BULLETIN 

OF 

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 

NO. 251. 

FOUR TIMES A MONTH 
GENERAL SERIES 27 OCTOBER 15, 1912 

RURAL SCHOOL EDUCATION 

Lectures Delivered and Outlines of Round Tables Held 

During Rural School Education Week Under 

the Auspices of The University 

Summer Schools 

July 15-19, 1912. 




PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OP TEXAS 

AUSTIN. TEXAS 

Enlerad as second-class mail matter at the postoffice at Austin, Texas 



.yfapVi 



629-10J0-15b-2288 



BULLETIN 

OF 

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 

NO. 251. 

POUR TIMES A MONTH 
GENERAL SERIES 27 OCTOBER 15, 1912 

RURAL SCHOOL EDUCATION 

Lectures Delivered and Outlines of Round Tables Held 

During Rural School Education Week Under 

the Auspices of The University 

Summer Schools 

July 15-19, 1912. 




PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN. TEXAS 

Entered as second-class mail matter at the postofRce at Austin, Texas 






AUSTIN PRINTING COMPANY 

AUSTIN. TEXAS 

1912 



a OF D. 
ln/\R 10 1914 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction 5 

Report of Lectures by Superintendent 0. J. Kern 7 

A Simple Method of Cataloguing Agricultural Pamphlets. . 18 

The Agricultural Booklet 26 

The Outlook in Agricultural Education 38 

The Teaching of Agriculture in the Rural Schools of Texas. . 41 

The Establishment and Maintenance of Rural High Schools 

in Texas 45 

Local Taxation in Rural School Districts 58 

The Rural High School as a Social Center 66 

Six- Year Terms for School Boards and Permanent Support 

for Higher Institutions 74 

The County Institute 78 

Further Development of County Supervision 80 

Testing the Teacher's Efficiency as a Manager and as an 

Instructor 81 

The County Superintendent as a Progressive Leader of Pub- 
lic Opinion 82 

Resolutions 83 



INTRODUCTION 

During the week beginning July 15, 1912, there was con- 
ducted, under the auspices of the University Summer Schools, 
a five-day series of lectures and round tables, all of which were 
devoted to the investigation and discussion of problems relating 
to rural schools. Among the lecturers and leaders of round 
tables were County Superintendent 0. J. Kern of Winnebago 
county, Illinois; Mr. C. H. Lane, assistant in agricultural edu- 
cation, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

D. C. ; State Superintendent F. M. Bralley of Austin, Texas; 
President R. B. Cousins of the West Texas State Normal Col- 
lege, Canyon, Texas; Superintendent P. W. Horn of the Hous- 
ton city schools; Superintendent S. M. N. Marrs of the Terrell 
city schools; Mr. C. H. Winkler, instructor in botany in the 
University of Texas, and Messrs. T. H. Shelby, E. V. White, 

E. A. Decherd and N. J. Clancy of the State Department of 
Education, Austin. 

The papers brought together in this bulletin consist in some 
instances of complete lectures, and in other instances of ab- 
stracts or reports. They are published in order that 'county 
superintendents and others who were in attendance upon rural 
school education week last July, may have preserved in perma- 
nent form many of the excellent features of the exercises of 
that week. It is hoped, furthermore, that this bulletin will be 
read carefully by many other county superintendents, as well 
as by many other people interested in the progress of rural 
education in Texas. 

The authorities of the University of Texas, believing that by 
far the greatest educational problem in our state is that of the 
rural school, have decided to make rural school education week 
a permanent feature of the summer session. Already plans for 
the exercises of this week in 1913 are in process of development. 
Superintendent Kern has been employed to deliver fifteen lec- 
tures, ten in the morning and five in the evening, the latter being 
illustrated with lantern slides. He will, furthermore, assist in 
round tables that will be conducted during the five afternoons. 



6 University 'of Texas Bulletin 

Other experts will contribute their services, and it is believed 
that the work throughout the entire week will have great influ- 
ence upon the rural school movement in Texas. 

W. S. Sutton, 
Dean of the Summer Schools. 
September 1, 1912. 



REPORT OF LECTTTRES 

DELIVERED BY 

O. J. Kern, County Superintendent of Schools, Winnebago 
County, Illinois 

I. Illustrated Lectures 

It is impossible on the printed page to describe adequately 
the slides used by Mr. Kern in his four illustrated lectures dur- 
ing rural education week. His pictures need to be seen to be 
appreciated, and also to get a definite idea of his work in im- 
proving country school conditions in his own county. The pic- 
ture on the screen speaks more etfectively than does the word 
picture on the printed page. Mr. Kern has over 1000 lantern 
slides, many of them beautifully colored, to represent things 
done in country school improvement and country life in gen- 
eral during his fourteen years as superintendent of the Winne- 
bago county, Illinois, schools. He selected the best of his 1000 
for the four lectures, and gave his best effort in his explanation 
of the pictures as shown upon the screen. 

The subjects of his four illustrated lectures were: 

1. Outdoor Improvement of the Country School. 

2. Indoor Improvement of the Country School and Play and 
Play Festivals. 

3. Nature-Study Agriculture in the Country School. 

4. Consolidation and the Country High School. 

Mr. Kern used slides to show the beautifying of school grounds 
and the erection of new buildings, with pictures "Before" and 
' ' After, ' ' thus presenting more forcibly the educational progress 
in the physical improvement of the country school. Other pic- 
tures represented school-room sanitation and decoration, local 
school libraries and traveling libraries, etc. The series of slides 
on play, play festivals and playground apparatus for the coun- 
try school was a revelation of the promise of rural recreation in 
the lives of country people. 

The enrichment of the course of study, thus putting the coun- 



8 University of Texan Bulletin 

try child into a more sympathetic relation with his environment, 
was shown in a series of fine slides on nature study, school 
gardens, corn and soil work, boys' and girls' club w^ork, etc. 
Last, but not least, his lecture on consolidation showed the pos- 
sibilities of a high school located in the country, with its oppor- 
tunities for a larger social service. In these consolidated coun- 
try schools was shown up-to-date laboratory equipment, where, 
under direction of trained teachers, agriculture, manual train- 
ing and domestic science are being taught to country children. 
In short, the pictures were a revelation and an inspiration. 

II. Lectures Without the Stereopticon 

Space will not permit the printing of everything that Mr. 
Kern said during the week. Enough is here given to indicate 
the character of his message. As in the case of anyone who has 
a message, the speaker must be heard to get the full import and 
spirit of his work. In his lectures without the stereopticon were 
discussed these themes: 

1. The Call of the Open Country. 

2. The Tliree L's in the Country School. 

3. Agricultural Education. • 

4. Some Social Problems of the Country School. 

5. The County Superintendent's Opportunity. 
Following are important extracts from the lectures: 

No finer challenge is presented today than the challenge of 
the open country for leadership. Educated men and women 
are wanted on the farms, men who are willing to tackle and 
solve the problems of country life, persons with the 'fighting 
edge' to tackle the nearest and commonest problems of country 
life. It may be the problem of better roads, better selection of 
seed corn, tuberculosis in dairy cattle, soil conservation, better 
schools, better churches, better social privileges, etc. The coun- 
try road calls for leadership in developing a country life civil- 
ization. 

The country life movement has for its object the develop- 
ment of a civilization in the open country that will be just as 
satisfying as the best civilization of the cities, a civilization that 
shall set forth the best American ideals in the open country. 



h'ural School Problems 9 

Evidently something must be wrong with country life. In 
the State of .Illinois the 1910 census shows there are 50,000 
fewer people living on the farms than there were ten years ago 
in forty-six of the richest agricultural coimties in the corn belt. 
And this movement away from the soil comes at a time when 
the price of land is advancing and when the farmer is assured 
high prices for his produce. And yet the farmer finds country 
life satisfactory only on the financial side. And so the country 
home is dug up by the roots, and the farm's best crop — the 
boys and girls — is transplanted to a new environment. For the 
open fields and the running brook are substituted too often the 
cheap vaudeville and the moving picture film. 

It is a menace to our national welfare to have the best people 
continually deserting the open country. The country is the 
"seed bed" of the cities. Every boy who belongs to a corn 
club knows that, if he sells the best ears this year and the best 
ears next year and the best ears the third year and so on, and 
keeps the scrub ears for breeding purposes, it will not be long 
before he will have no ears to sell, or at least no one will want 
to buy them. By analogy with reference to well bred people, 
Carver in his new book, Principles of Sural Economics, puts 
the case as follows: "if it should happen that the" most vigor- 
ous, capable and enterprising youths should continually leave 
the country for the city, there to become sterilized, as is usually 
the case, through the pursuit of sensuality, vanity, or false 
ambition, only one result would be possible. The less vigorous, 
capable, and enterprising youths being left in the country, there 
to marry and bring up families, and the same process of selec- 
tion going on generation after generation, the quality of the 
rural population would inevitably deteriorate. * * * So 
long as the rural population is improving, there is no danger 
of national decay or weakness, or a decline of civilization. It 
is therefore of great importance that the farms shall retain at 
least their fair share of the talent of the country. In order 
that young men and women of talent and capacity may be in- 
duced to remain on the farms, rural" life must be made attrac- 
tive to them. Farm life can not be made attractive to such men 
and women unless it offers opportunities for a more liberal 



10 University of Texas Bulletin 

material income, for much agreeable social life, and for intel- 
lectual and aesthetic enjoyment." 

The call of the open country is then for leadership to redirect 
all forms of institutional life in the country. To qualify for 
leadership in this great welfare movement, one must have at 
least three things, viz.: First, a wholesome sympathy for the 
life of the open country ; second, an intellectual grasp that 
comes from the reading and study of the new literature of thje 
open country ; third, infinite patience and perseverance in lead- 
ing people to do things to better conditions in the open country. 
Short measure in the first two need not necessarily prove fatal ; 
but, certainly, full measure is demanded in the last, if ideas 
and ideals are to result in something more than talk and good 
feelings. 

The problem of country life is the problem of more com- 
plete living, the enrichment of the life of the individ- 
ual countryman. This enrichment and consequent appreciation 
of life in the open country must come as the result of education 
related to country life. It should be that kind of an education 
that will make life in the open country more satisfying. People 
can not be induced to remain on the farm by legislative enact- 
ment. But .the right kind of ideals in* the country home and 
in the country school, especially where the teacher is in sym- 
pathy with all that is richest and best in country life, will give 
the children finer ideals and in a generation we shall have a 
race of people who will choose to remain in the country. They 
will find pleasure and profit in doing so. It is said that a 
wholesome viewpoint of life gives a wholesome life, and, if we 
can changfe the viewpoint of the rising generation of boys and 
girls in the open country, we can lead them where we will. 
The person who has this immense power for good is the country 
school teacher. 

In a material way the farmer is coming into his own. Let 
us all rejoice with the farmer in his prosperity. But it is now 
high time that the country school share in the general prosperity 
of the open country. And the country boys and girls are com- 
ing into their own, educationally, when the country school is 
improved along the following general lines: 

1. Spiritualization through environment. By this is meant 



Rural School Problems 11 

the beautifying of school grounds and improvement of build- 
ings ; school sanitation and decoration, libraries, etc. ; the organ- 
ization of home and school associations to make the country 
schoolhouse more of a social center in the community life. As 
to the value of environment as an educational factor, the reader 
is urged to read Burbank's The Training of the Human Plant. 
If Burbank in his work with plants values the character of the 
environment in which the plant is placed, then also should the 
countryman emphasize the environment in which the human 
plant, the boy or girl, is educated. With the school, then. 
Arbor Day will mean something more than a program of reci- 
tations and songs about trees, flowers, and birds. If boys and 
girls are to acquire finer ideals of the beauty of country life, 
it must be through the medium of the country school, while thd 
children are young. The physical improvement of the educa- 
tional plant, inside and outside, is the fundamental thing in 
education for country life. 

2. Enrichment of the course of study in the country school 
so that the children of the fields will be put into sympathetic 
relation with their own life, instead of being educated, as at 
present, for the life of the cities. The trend of modern edu- 
cation is that the school should reflect some of the princ'n^il 
elements of the civilization in which it is placed. Therefore the 
country school should teach some of the elements of agriculture, 
manual training, and domestic science. Agriculture is the 
world's oldest civilization and the higher institutions of agri- 
cultural education and research already have a body of organ- 
ized educational material which if taught with as much skiU 
as the so-called "culture" subjects will give culture and mental 
discipline. The problem is to organize this material in an ele- 
mentary way for the 12,000,000 boys and girls in the country 
schools, 9{) per cent of whom, it is .safe to say, will never enter 
a college of agriculture. 

Agriculture tauoht in the right way in the country school 
will result in a higher degree of industrial efficiency. This is 
desirable considering the high cost of living. About one- third 
of the people now live on the farms, and this one-third in pro- 
duction of foodstufl's must bear the burden of three-thirds of 
the population as consumers. And this burden is to be borne 



12 University of Texas Bulletin 

at a tiirie when the soil has been weakened in productive capac- 
ity. And if we are to maintain a permanent sj^stem of agri- 
culture in this country, we must do it by scientific agricultural 
education in the country school, the great primary school of the 
American farmer. Farm demonstration work is all right with 
the adult; but it is not fundamental enough to be all-sufficient. 
Begin with the child in the right kind of country school. Train 
up a child in the way farming should be done, and, when he is 
old, he will not depart from it. 

But the hundred-bushel-per-aere yield is not the only or the 
chief thing in agricultural education. True, we want better 
farming; but we need also better living. Not only do we want 
the hundred-bushel farmer, but we need the larger factor, the 
hundred-bushel countryman. There is a difference. The coun- 
tryman does not exist simply as a machine to produce cheaper 
raw material for the people of the cities. Mr. DeWitt C. Wing, 
in a recent article in the Breeder's Gazette, says; "What our 
country needs to fear is a famine of vital, beautiful, personal 
lives, offered upon the altar of gain, dwarfed by' a narrow, one- 
angled existence, atrophied by denaturalized vocations. What 
would happen to the man's real life who developed any special- 
ity to the limits of its possibilities, is quite as important as to 
what would happen to his brother's life if he should abandon 
his specialty. Feeders, as well as the fed, have a particular 
business to transact during their short stay in this land. To 
feed the hungry is a blessed privilege which mutually opens the 
wells of the heart; but none of the exigencies of humanity can 
justify the emptiness' of one man's personal life by the conse- 
quent fullness of another's stomach." 

The hundred-bushel countryman, then, is as good a farmer 
as the hundred-bushel farmer. But the countryman is not a 
mere machine to mine the fertility of the soil, convert one hun- 
dred bushels of corn into pork and beef, lay up a bank account, 
and at fifty years leave the impoverished farm for the city. But 
he is a type of the American farmer who stays on the farm, and 
becomes a leader in the reconstruction of the institutional life 
of the open country. 

3. The third general line of improvement of educational ad- 
vantages for the open country is the consolidation of country 



Rural School Problems 13 

schools, thus making possible the high school located in the 
country, with its course of study flavored with country life and 
its interests. 

Warriin Wilson in his new book, The Church of the Open 
Country, has a chapter on Schools for Country Life. In this 
chapter he pays a fine tribute to the one-room schools of our 
nation. One marvels, he says, at the statesmanship that could 
map out this great country, educationally, on the scale of the 
short legs of the six-year-old child. For the country school- 
houses have been located at places based on the ability of the 
six-year-old to walk from home to the school in the morning and 
return at night. But the changing conditions of country life 
are lengthening, not physically, of course, the legs of the six- 
year-old. Better roads, telephones, trolley lines, automobiles, 
etc., are making it possible to go farther to a better school. 
Pioneer conditions have passed. 

The great need in the country is a high school. It is unthink- 
able that we must continue to send country boys and girls to 
the cities to be educated away from the farms. The consoli- 
dated country high school becomes the social and intellectual 
center for the boys and girls at that age when their ideals of 
life are being formed. Shall these ideals be those of the city 
or those of the open country? The farmer must answer. 

Of course the objection will come that the consolidated school, 
will cost more. It should cost more, for it does better work. 
Its increased cost is justified upon the principle that the corn 
binder costs more than the old-fashioned corn knife. We never 
can have better country schools until more money is expended 
in a better way. There is no other way: And two hundred- 
dollar land, dollar wheat, ten-cent cattle give the farmers the 
financial ability to support better schools. 

The following is a page from Mr. Kern's annual report for 
1911, showing the comparative cost of consolidation in Winne- 
bago county, Illinois, as compared with the village schools, 
schools of the city of Rockford, and twenty-four country schools 
of Winnebago county. The table is worthy of careful study, 
not only on the dollar side, but also from the standpoints of 
attendance, enrollment and high school opportunities. 

Here is given the cost of the Seward and the Harlem con- 



14 



University of Texas Bulletin 



solidaled schools as compared with other schools of the county. 
To some persons who do not stop to figure, consolidation 
means enormous taxes, and in their terror they see the sheriff 
coming down the road to seize their property and it is over the 
hill to the poorhouse for them. 



TABLE SHOWING SEWARD AND HARLEM CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS IN COM 
PARISON WITH OTHER SCHOOLS OE WINNEBAGO COUNT i'. ILLINOIS. 



2, South Beloit 

3, South Beloit 

9, Rospoe 

13, Rockton 

27, Durand 

80, Pecatonica 

97, Winnebago 

11-2, Cherry Valley 

Rockford 

5, Country 

7, Country 

8, Country 

16, Country . 

19, Country 

20, Country 

24, Country 

32, Country 

33, Country 

34, Country 

37, Country 

39, Country .„. 

41, Country 

53, Country 

59, Country 

62, Country 

65, Country 

6f>, Country 

78, Country 

104, Country 

111, Country 

118, Country 

120, Country 

202, Country 

121, Sewiird Consolidated 

122, Harlem Consolidated 



1,800 

8,000 

2, COO 

3,000 

2,900 

4,500 

3,000 

3,000 

50,215 

C.50 

COO 

500 

400 

40O 

350 

4C0 

650 

400 

285 

500 

450 

70O 

400 



1,050 

2,000 
475 
500 
500 
600 
400 
650 
2,600 
4,500 



c <^ r 



2.78.5 
2.K>i 
1.46 
1.26 
1.38 
.87! 
1.02 
1.29 
1.90 2 



1.931 
■1.00 
1.05 
1.00 



1 

1.10 

.91 

1.00 



5,170 

2,548 

3,708 

3,252 

7,9«4 

4.554 

3,555 

BO, 493 

557 

400 

774 

587 

620 

545 

677 

1,063 

645 

440 

746 

1,182 
672 
660 
909 

1,224 

2 

752 
950 

83Sl 
738: 
777 



9:)9 

5,170 

2,548 

3,708 

3,252 

7,yS4 

4,554 

3,5)5 

30,493 

557 

400 

•/74 

587 

620 

545 

()77 

1,«63 

645 

440 

746 



90) 
1,224 
2,808 
806 
752 
650 



4,976 
7,310 



195 

76 

142 

145 

169 

149 

102 

7512 

22 

7 

14 

17 

34 

13 

13 

39 

10 

7 

25 

15 





L 




^ 






■^ 




?i 








o 


o 


c 

o_ 
E o 


gi 


.a 


■ JZ 








C2 


C5 


55- 


2 


1 


9 


10 


8 


9 


5 


9 


9 


14 


30 


9 


25 


4C 


9 


14 


41 


9 


18 


15 


9 


13 


18 


9 


643 


790 


10 


2 


2 


8 


1 


C 


9 





c 


9 


3 


2 


8% 


2 


6 


8 


2 


2 


8 








8 


3 


2 


9 








8 








7 


1 


5 


8 








9 








8 


1 





8 








8 





1 


9 





4 


9 


3 


4 


9 








8 





1 


9 


2 





s^ 


1 


1 


9 





1 


8 


1 


1 


9 


16 


17 


9 


7 


12 


9 



The Harlem consolidated school is costing more than the 
Seward consolidated because the board pay higher salaries for 
teachers and have equipped the building so that manual train- 
ing, domestic science, and agriculture are taught. In above 
exhibit note how few pupils over 14 years are in the country 
schools. In comparing costs of consolidation remember that 
the Seward and Harlem consolidated districts are paying for 
new buildings, furnish nine months' school with three and four 



Rural School Problems 15 

years' high school. And yet the tax rate is lower than twenty- 
four country schools and the nine village schools and city of 
Rockford. 

We now have the beginning of some fine literature of the open 
country. The quantity and quality of this will increase as the 
years come and go. There is no doubt about this. It treats 
of the fundamental and elemental in life. This is what makes 
it so fascinating and valuable. The country school teacher has 
an opportunity unexcelled to put the adults of his district in 
touch with this literature. Not all of it will be read by any one 
person in a single term of school. Our school libraries have 
been filled with books largely for children. It does seem that 
the time has come to put into the school library a book or two 
each year at least, that will especially help the adults in the 
country home. The contents of these books on country life 
may well afford discussion among farmers and their wives. A 
short list of the literature on country life is here given. Begin 
the formation of a country life bookshelf in your own library. 

1. Bailey, The Country Life Movement. Macmillan Co 

2. Bailey, The Outlook to Nature. Macmillan Co. 

3. Bailey, The State and the Farmer. Macmillan Co. 

4. Bailey, The Nature Study Idea. Macmillan Co. 

5. McKeever, Farm Boys and Grirls. Macmillan Co. 

6. Foght, The American Rural School. Macmillan Co. 

7. Bailey, The Training of Farmers. Century Co. . 

8. Burbank, Tlie Training of the Human Plant. Century Co. 

9. Grayson. Adventures in Contentment. Doubleday, Page, 
& Co. 

10. Plunkett, The Rural Life Problem in .the United States. 
MacMillan Co. 

11. Country Life Annals, March, 1912. American Academy 
of Social Science. Philadelphia, Pa. 

12. Butterfield, Chapters in Rural Progress. Chicago Uni- 
versity Press. 

13. Butterfield, The Country Church and the Rural Prob- 
lem. Chicago University Press. 

14. Wilson, The Church of the Open Country. Missionary 
Education Movement, New York City. 

15. Carver, Principles of Rural Economics. Ginn & Co. 

16. Hopkins, Story of the Soil. The Gorham Press. 



16 . . University o/ Texas Bulletin 

Life in the open country will be enriched by individuals work- 
ing through institutions. The teacher will exert but little direct 
influence, perhaps, upon two of these institutions, the home and 
the church. But her influence upon the school is immediate 
and direct. It is in the country school that leadership for the 
open country must be developed. There are 12,000,000 boys 
and girls enrolled in the country schools of the United States, 
and not more than 25 per cent of these ever finish the eighth 
grade, while a much smaller per cent ever go to the high school. 
So the country school problem is one of national importance 
and the biggest one confronting the American farmer since the 
organization of the land grant colleges. 

Now what kind of ideals are the country children getting from 
their teachers? Perhaps the country teacher who has looked 
over the above list of books is wondering how the reading of any 
of these will help to teach the multiplication table or spelling. 
Tliere are several chapters in those books that will help the 
teacher to see how his own school can be related more vitally 
to the life of the country people. It is important, of course, 
that there be excellent instruction in the traditional studies of 
the school, for the teacher most effectively qualifies for leader- 
.ship by teaching a good school as we sshool people understand 
that term. To illustrate, Plunkett in his book, The Rural Life 
Problem in the United States, says. "We want two changes 
in the rural mind, not omitting the rural teacher's mind. First, 
the interest which the physical environment of the farmer pro- 
vides to followers of almost every branch of science, must be 
communicated to the agricultural classes according to their 
capacities. Second, that intimacy with and affection for nature 
to which Wordsworth has given the highest expression, must in 
some way be engendered in the rural mind. In this way alone 
will the countryman come to realize the beauty of the life 
around him, as through the teaching of science he will learn to 
realize its truth." 

Of all children who are favored by location ta appreciate the 
beautiful imagery of our rich store of nature poetry, it ig the 
country child. We should not wait till the one child out of 
a thousand reaches the high school to begin on the epic poem like 
Paradise Lost. Paradise here is practically lost to the great 



Rural School Problems 17 

host of boys and girls on the farm who never reach the high 
school. What the country school should do for these children 
is to regain Paradise by the study of nature poetry, to open the 
eyes of country children to the Paradise that now is along the 
streams and roads and in the fields and woodland. Color of 
flowers and foliage, form of cloud and dewdrop can be taught 
in the school in connection with the language values of these 
beautiful poems of the open country. Require the children to 
commit to memory many of the finest passages, emphasize much 
conversational work in the language phase of the poem study 
and thus the minds of the children are stored with a richer 
vocabulary and finer ideals and ideas to stimulate expression 
in oral and written work. This is one way in which "that 
intimacy with and affection for nature" may be "engendered 
in the rural mind" as indicated by Plunkett in his book. Do 
this while the children are young and this finer outlook to 
nature will stay with them through life. 

It is education that must bring about better farming and 
better living. These things can not be secured by resolutions 
in a conservation meeting while you wait. The great mass of 
the farmers is as yet untouched by this new movement. We 
have to begin with the children, and train a new generation. 
The country school is the 'key to the situation, for 95 per cent 
of the country children go to no other kind of school so far as 
books are concerned. 

Dean Bailey in his book. The State and the Farmer, says : 
"Education should take hold of every factor that riieans much 
to the people. Some man some day will see the opportunity 
and will seize it. The result of his work will be simply a new 
way of thinking ; but it will eventuate into a new political and 
social economy. When his statue is finally cast in bronze, he 
will not be placed on a prancing steed or be surrounded by any 
symbols of carnage or of war. He will be a plain man in citi- 
zen's clothes, and he will stand on the ground; but his face 
will be towards the daylight." 

"A dream," you say. Perhaps. But there is a patriotism 
of peace. And, standing beside the country road, will be the 
statue of the soldier of the common good with his face to the 
open country. 



18 University of Texas Bulletin 

A SIMPLE METHOD OF CATALOGUING AGRICULTU- 
RAL PAMPHLETS SUITABLE FOR THE SCHOOL 
OR HOME LIBRARY 

By C. H. Lane, Assistant in Agricultural Education, United 
States Department of Agriculture 

While the libraries of the agricultural colleges and the larger 
agricultural schools of this country have long made suitable 
provision for cataloguing and using the bulletins of this depart- 
ment and those of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations, 
no such arrangement has been made by any considerable number 
of the smaller agricultural schools or the public schools. These 
schools do not have librarians to take care of their publications, 
nor do many of them have suitable filing cases or even sufficient 
shelf room. As a result the agricultural bulletins and pam- 
phlets, which have been procured in large numbers by these 
schools, are frequently piled up in some corner, unused and un- 
usable, and the great majority of teachers in the public schools 
have failed to appreciate the range ©f useful information em- 
bodied in these publications. In the hope of helping such teach- 
ers this description of a simple method of cataloguing agricultu- 
ral publications has been prepared. 

With the widespread interest now awakened in agricultural 
education, teachers are having a hard time at best to procure 
suitable and reliable literature on all phases of agriculture for 
reference purposes in schools and to supplement the text-book, 
but it is hoped that many will have their difficulties lessened by 
taking advantage of this system of cataloguing, which is so sim- 
ple as to require very little study and so inexpensive that it can 
be put into operation in any school where a few cards can be 
be procured for the catalogue and a few shelves can be put up 
for the bulletins. The system is also a suitable one for filing 
private collections of agricultural bulletins; in fact, its great 
usefulness, as already demonstrated in the farm home, was what 
suggested its application to school conditions. 



Cataloguing Pamphlets 19 



MATERIALS FOR THE CATALOGUE 



With this system only three things need to be provided before 
beginning the catalogue: (1) A few cards for the catalogue, 
(2) a box to hold the cards, and (3) cases or shelves where the 
bulletins can be placed on end. 

1. Plain white cards and colored division cards in two colors 
are needed. There should be as many white cards as there are 
articles to be catalogued and as many colored cards as there are 
divisions and subdivisions of the main subject. For 500 bulle- 
tins and reports it is likely that 600 white cards and sixty col- 
ored division cards (fifteen of one color and forty-five of an- 
other) would be sufficient. For a larger number of publications 
it would be necessary to procure additional white cards only. 

The cost of white cards, 3x5 inches in size, which is probably 
the most convenient size, is from $1 to $2 a 1000, depending upon 
the weight of the cardboard used in making them, and that of 
plain guide cards, from $3 to $6 a 1000, or from 25 cents to 75 
cents a 100. 

2. A box or drawer, in which to arrange the cards on edge, will 
be needed. This may be a home-made article or it may be pur- 
chased from any dealer iit office furniture and supplies. An un- 
covered oak tray ten inches long, like the one shown in figure 1 
costs about $1. 

3. Shelves on which to arrange the publications should be 
about ten inches apart, and should be provided with perepen- 
dicular division boards about every ten to fifteen inches to keep 
the bulletins from falling down. The shelves may be open or 
they may be inclosed as in a bookcase. 

ARRANGING AND NUMBERING THE PUBLICATIONS 

Practically all publications issued by the state experiment 
stations and this department are numbered. The first thing to 
be done with numbered publications is to place its own number 
in bold figures in the upper left-hand corner of the first cover 
page, so that when it is placed on a shelf between other publi- 
cations its number can be discovered without removing it en- 
tirely from the shelf. Reports and other publications without 



20 University of Texas Bulletin 

numbers should be given arbitrary numbers, selecting for thia 
purpose numbers that are missing in the collection of bulletins. 
For example, there may not be a publication numbered 5, if not, 
use 5 on the first unnumbered publication found, and so on with 
other numbers that are lacking. Or better, such publications 
may be given decimal numbers, as 01, 02, 03, etc. Clippings 
may be pasted on a good quality of cardboard the size of a state 
agricultical experiment station or government bulletin page, 
and given numbers in the same series with unnumbered publi- 
cations. 

In case there are several publications containing the sam« 
number, as for example, a Farmers' Bulletin from this depart- 
ment numbered 428 and three or four station bulletins, each hav- 
ing the same number, the second of these should be numbered 
428-1, the third 428-2, the fourth 428-3, and so on. 

Following the numbering of all publications properly, comes 
the placing of them on end in numerical order, reading from 
left to right, on the shelves of the library or bookcase. In order 
that time may not be lost in searching for a particular publica- 
tion it would be well to label the shelves by hundreds, as 1-100, 
100-200. 200-300, etc., or to put labelf^in a similar way on the up- 
right division boards. 

CATALOGUING THE PUBLICATIONS 

One colored division card should be prepared for each main 
division of the catalogue. For convenience and simplicity the 
scheme illustrated in figure 1 is suggested for the public schools. 
This provides for ten main divisions, as follows: (1) Educa- 
tional, (2) agronomy, (3) horticulture, (4) forestry, (5) ani- 
mal husbandry, (6) dairying, (7) agricultural engineering, (8) 
agricultural economics, (9) miscellaneous, and (10) sciences. 
Cards of another color will serve to subdivide some of the above 
main divisions, as, for example, agronomy is this classification 
is divided into farm crops, crop pests, soils and fertilizers. 

With all materials at hand and the division cards made, the 
next thing is to make a card for each publication. 

Farmers' Bulletin 428 may be taken as an illustration of the 
method of cataloguing each publication (fig. 2). A plain white 



Cataloguing Pamphlets 21 

card should be used, and on the upper central portion of this the 
title and author of the publication should be written thus: 
Testing Farm Seeds in the Home and in the Rural School, by 
F. H. Hillman. In the upper left-hand corner of the card 
should be placed the number 428, correspondino; to the number 
in the upper left-hand corner of the bulletin. The date of issue 
should be placed near the lower left-hand corner of the card, 
and to the right of this the kind of publication and its source, 
thus: 1911 — Farmers' Bulletin, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture. 

*The completed card should next be placed in the proper di- 
vision and subdivision in the catalogue. The subject of this par- 
ticular card is evidently one relating to crop production, hence 
it would come under "agronomy," and under the subdivision 
"farm crops." There is also a suggestion in the title that the 
bulletin contains something especially appropriate for rural 
school work. If, upon examination of the bulletin, this is found 
to be true, it would be well to make a duplicate white card, to be 
put under the division "educational" and the subdivision 
"school courses," so that one person looking through this cata- 
logue for references to literature relating to school courses would 
find a reference to this bulletin, while another person who cared 
nothing about school courses, but who was very anxious to get 
suggestions for testing his clover seed, would find a reference 
to the same bulletin by looking under "farm crops." 

In the case of reports containing several articles, a card should 
be filled out for the subject of each article of interest, in the same 
way that cards should be filled out for individual bulletins or 
circulars, and each card should be given a number correspond- 
ing to the number on the upper left-hand corner of the report. 
Clippings and very important data found in books should be 
catalogued in the same manner as just outlined for reports. 

now TO USE THE CATALOOUE 

Supposing now thnt all of the agricultural bulletins, circu- 
lars and reports in a school library or in a farmer's private col- 
lection have been catalogued according to this plan, let us see 
if the catalogue makes a ready and convenient reference for 



22 Dniversiiy of Texas Bulletin 

students in the public school and also for farmers having a li- 
brary for their own use and the use of their boys who are inter- 
ested in farm work. 

Bulletin 154 of the Alabama College Station reports the res- 
suits of three years' feeding experiments to determine the value 
of soy-bean pastures and the most profitable amount of corn to 
use for fattening hogs on these pastures, and the question of 
hardening lard and meat bogs that had been thus pastured. 
Feeding experiments with tankage and cotton seed meal are also 
reported, together with a summary of Bulletin 143 of the sta- 
tion dealing with supplementary feeds and com for Southern 
hog production. The card for this bulletin would read: 



154 


CORN, SOT-BEAN PASTURE, TANKAGE, AND COT- 
IOjmSSED MEAL POR PATTENING HOGS 




BY D. T. GRAY, J. V^. RIDGWAY. AND E. R. EUDALY 


1911. 


—Bulletin. Alabama Station 



From its title the bulletin evidently deals with farm crops, 
hogs and feeds and feeding, so we should expect to find dupli- 
cate cards in each of these subdivisions of the catalogue. A 
student or farmer interested in looking up all available informa- 
tion on feeding hogs, would naturally look under the subdivision 
"hogs" in the catalogue, and there he should find a reference 
to Bulletin 154 of the Alabama Station ; another interested in 
the various uses of corn or soy-beans should find the same refer- 
ence under "farm crops," while still another looking up infor- 
mation on feeding experiments, should find this bulletin cata- 
logued under '"feeds and feeding." Catalogued in this way 
the bulletin would be fully cross-referenced and would serve 
three times as many people as it would if only one card was 
made for it. 

Circular 11 of the New Hampshire Station points out the- 
value of books, bulletins and magazines, and the general agricul- 
tural press as sources of practical information for farmers, and 
gives a list of standard horticultural books, bulletins and maga- 
zines. The card for this circular w'ould read : 



Cataloguing Pamphlets 23 



11 


HORTICULTURAL INFORMATION: 
OBTAIN IT 

BY B. S. PICKETT 


HOW 


TO 


1911. 


— Circular. New Hainp-hire Station 







The first word in the title of this circular would suggest put- 
ting a card for it in the catalogue division on "horticulture," 
but since it also contains some information of a general nature 
concerning the value of books and other publications, it might 
be well to put a duplicate card in the catalogue division entitled 
"miscellaneous," or better, a catalogue division on "references 
to literature" might be added to the scheme. A student looking 
for references to helpful literature on horticulture ought to be 
able to turn to his catalogue, find a card like that described 
above, and from the number 11 in the upper left-hand corner 
of the card go at once to the proper circular on the bulletin 
shelf. Thus, by turning over four or five cards, he woukl save 
the trouble of taking down and putting back at least ten publi- 
cations, supposing he were to start at number 1 to examine the 
publications. 

One more illustration should be sufficient to show the sim- 
plicity of this method of cataloguing and the desirability of its 
use in elementary and secondary schools, as well as in the farm 
home. 

The twenty-fourth annual report of the Nebraska Station 
contains the director's summary report and reports of the sub- 
stations, and a financial statement, besides an appendix of sci- 
entific papers on a new sawfly enemy of the bull pine in Ne- 
braska, spraying for the melon aphis, genetic correlation and 
spurious allelomorphism in maize, the relation of climatic fac- 
tors to the water used by the corn plant, correlation studies of 
corn, a comparative study of the bacterial content of soils from 
fields of corn and alfalfa, and the effect of food on the strength, 
.size and composition of the bones of hogs. It is needless to say 
!hat not all of this information is of general interest. The ar- 
ticles, however, on corn, the melon aphis, and perhaps one or 
"two other subjects are of sufficient interest to warrant their be- 
ing catalogued. The cards for two of these articles would read 
as follows : 



University of Texas Bulletin 



24 SPBAYIKG TOB THE MEI.ON APHIS 

BY M. H. S'WENK 
1911. — Ann. Rpt. Nebraska Station, pp. 35-57 



24 THE RELATION OP CLIMATIC PACTOBS TO 

THE VTATEB USED BT THE COBN 
PLANT 

BY T. A. KIESSELBACH AND E. G. MONTGOMERY 

1911.— Ann. Rpt. Nebraska Station, pp. 91-107 



The first card is on a horticultural subject, and should be put 
under "holieultural pests," while the second relates to farm 
crops, and should be so classified. Both cards have the same 
number find refer to the same report, but the page references 
show that they are from different parts of the report, and also 
help the student to turn at once to the desired article. These 
page references serve the further purpose of indicating the 
length of the article. 

A card catalogue on this plan, when once prepared for all the 
agricultural publications on hand, caji easily be kept up-to-date 
by simply taking a few moments to prepare cards for each pub- 
lication as it is received. The saving of time to any one having 
to refer frequently to a miscellaneous collection of pamphlets 
would be great, and in the case of a school class in agriculture 
a catalogue is almost as essential as the publications themselves. 
for the publications are never used effectively without some 
goed system of filing and cataloguing. 

At the opening of each school year all new students who maj 
have occasion to use the agricultural bulletins should be shown 
how to use the catalogue and how to find the publications re- 
ferred to on the cards. 



428 



TesHng Farm Seeds in ihe Home and in 
ihe Rura/ School. 

F.H.U///man. 



/9il. "Farmers ' Bu//eiin. U. S. Dep^. /igr 



t 



Fig. 1. Card Catalogue Tray, with Division Cards Showing a Con- 
venient Classification for Agricultural Pamphlets. 




Fig. 2. A Plain White Card from a Card Catalogue of Agricultural 
Pamphlets. 



26 University of Texas Bulletin 



THE AGRICULTURAL BOOKLET 

By C. H. Lane, Assistant in Agricultural Education, United 
States Department of Agriculture 

introduction 

The making of illustrated agricultural booklets is one of the 
easiest and simplest ways of interesting children of the fifth and 
sixth grades in the subject of agriculture. The use of the illus- 
trated booklet in teaching the various subjects to be found in 
the rural school curriculum is not a new one. This method of 
teaching the various subjects found in the course of study has 
been used effectively for many years, and so I am convinced that 
the best results in agricultural teaching to beginners have been 
secured through the use of the illustrated booklet. Not only ia 
this work effectively correlated with the other studies of the 
school, but this booklet work is also correlated with the boys ' and 
girls' club work of the school or community. 

In selecting the subjects for booldet work, the teacher must 
first fully know the child and his environment and assign a sub- 
ject, "mule," "cotton, " "corn," "home sanitation," etc., along 
the line of his or her greatest interest and information. The 
first step should be made easy. Do not flaunt before the child 
the fact that he is to write an essay or composition. There is 
some danger in naming this composition effort. Simply ask 
them to find out all they can about cotton, the teacher to sug- 
gest the order of subjects and the pupils to tell all they can about 
cotton in writing, and then organize their subject matter, and 
illustrating cover design and pages as they proceed. The more 
material there is on hand, the easier it will be for the pupils to 
make good booklets. It is a good plan to secure a large envelope, 
for each subject. Have the children place all the material on 
cottton, for instance, in the cotton envelope. The boys and girls 
should be encouraged to bring papers, catalogues and bulletins 
on farm subjects from home and to gather information from 
their parents and others in the locality. The teacher should 
assist the boys and girls in writing letters to their state experi- 



The Agricultural Booklet 27 

ment station, the department of agriculture, seed dealers and 
others;, asking for information on certain Subjects. Do not 
overdo, and allow the child to overwork in this line. Keep a 
sensible balance on this work as you do in other lines of school- 
room effort. 

REASONS FOR THIS METHOD 

It trains for better penmanship, neatness and organizing 
ability ; teaches the child how and where to go in quest of truth, 
and thereby develops individuality and independence; it en- 
courages a great deal of extra reading, teaches" the correct use 
of English and renders grammar a thing of interest and daily 
practice. This form of agricultural education dignifies home 
and farm interests by correlating the common things with daily 
work in the common branches, such as arithmetic, grammar, 
geography, physiology and writing, etc. 

DIVISIONS OF WORK 

Since cotton is the most important farm crop in the State of 
Texas, I shall take it as an illustration of the method to be used 
for all farm crops, etc. 



Make one booklet ; the work to be divided in three parts, and 
to cover the entire school year. 

Part I. History of cotton, seed selection, harvesting, ginning 
and marketing. 

Part II. Cotton insects and diseases: Discuss in brief, first, 
life history ; sjecond, treatment of insects. Discuss diseases, 
first, by giving causes and, second, discuss their treatment, pre- 
vention and cure. 

Part III. Soils, as related to cotton growing and all the other 
crops necessary to crop rotation. This part should deal with 
the elements of good cotton soil, preparation of seed bed, culti- 
vation, seed selection as related to the soil, etc. 

Each part of this booklet should, as near as possible, fit into 



28 University of Texas Bulletin 

the three seasons, fall, winter and spring, when the work on the 
farm will parallel the work of the school. 

In a similar way subdivide and plan the work on all of the 
school interests, corn, oats, hogs, poultry, strawberries, home 
sanitation, home decoration, beef production, etc. Treat each 
subject in three divisions, as outlined above. This method will 
intensify and classify valuable information for the members of 
the school, as well as furnish a vital relation between the club 
work and the schoolroom work. 

OUTLINE FOR AN ILLUSTRATED COTTON BOOKLET 

Use a good grade of drawing paper, 9x12 inches, upon which 
you can use both ink and water color paints. The cover paper 
should be white or steel' gray. Have in mind durability, neat- 
ness and artistic arrangement. 

Write with pen and ink. Lead pencil reports should never 
be accepted. 

You should aim to have at least twelve pages inside of each 
cotton booklet. For your description work use a good grade 
of pen and ink paper, ruled or unrolled, and not larger than 
9x12 inches, so as to fit into your cover paper neatly — ^size 8x11 
inches will do. Fasten leaves together on top with a modest col- 
ored cord or white baby ribbon. (You should beware of gaudi- 
ness.) The holes for ribbon or cork fasteners may be made with 
a pen knife or a paper punch. 

DESIGN 

The cover design should indicate clearly the subject-matter to 
he contained within. It is important that it be neat, original 
and artistic. Avoid too much color. Sketch liuhtly with lead 
pencil, then outline with ink or water color. With a cotton book- 
let I would suggest a pale cream or shades of green, yellow and 
red to be used in drawings and illustrations. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR COVER DESIGN 

First, use green-lined margins on four sides of paper, and dec- 



The Agricultural Booklet . 29 

orate center of cover with plenty of cotton seed, printing neatly 
above and below the words ''Cotton Culture." 

Second, use lines of cotton bolls for marginal decorations, and 
show a picture of a boy or girl in a cotton field. It would be 
well to have these sketched very frequently. Boys and girls can 
secure such pictures from farm papers. For the main body of 
the cover, print the ^vords ' ' Cotton is King. ' ' 

Third, use light cotton-colored margin lines. Place in the 
four corners the four parts of a boll— flower, pod, seed and lint. 
Color them white, yellow and red. Then in the center show 
some attractive farm and cotton scene. 

Pages 1 and 2. 

On the first page of the booklet give the duplicate report of 
your cotton plat or some Cotton field at home. The experience 
and c'jservation of pupils is valuable here. 

Pages 3 and 4. 

Look up some suitable poem or quotation on cotton and illus- 
trate as far as you can by use of cotton pictures, etc., or if you 
prefer, use a cotton song. Here is an excellent opportunity for 
the resourceful teacher to get in some helpful memory work in 
committing poems, etc. 

Page 4. 

Write a brief history of the cotton plant ; tell how it was first 
cultivated and eventually grown to be one of the greatest indus- 
tries in history, through the invention of machinery; then tell 
something about how man has developed the cotton, and how it 
has ranked among the fiber crops of the world. Name the cotton 
producing states of the Union in the order of greatest produc- 
tion during recent years. 

References: Bailey's Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 247-257; The 
Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the World, by G. Watt ; 
Ala. Expr, Sta. Bui. No. 13; Tex. Exp. Sta. Publications, and 
Yearbooks of the U. S. Dept. of Agr. ; J. F. Duggar, Southern 
Field Crops, pp. 377-387. 



30 University of Texas Bulletin 

Pages 5 and 6. 

Give here a discussion of soil, climatic and season require- 
ments for cotton production. Tell how to fertilize the soil and 
how to maintain its fertility by crop rotation. (Ohio Bulletin 
184, "The Maintenance of Soil Fertility;" Farmers' Bulletins 
Nos. 192, 278. 48, 144, 326, 257 ; Bureau of Plant Industry Doc- 
ument Nos. 441 and 631; U. S. Dept. Agr. Soils Bui. No. 62; 
S. C. Expr. Sta. Bui. No. 145 ; Ga. Expr. Sta. Bui. No. 79 ; Ala. 
Expr. Sta. Buls. Nos. 3, 78, 91, 103, 107, 113, 131 and 145 ; Texas 
Expr. Sta. Buls. ; Duggar, J. F., Southern Field Crops, pp. 
315-339. 

Page 7. 

Discuss here how and when to select the seed cotton, with rea- 
sons. Tell why it is necessary to select the seed in the field, an(^ 
know its breed type before we select the cotton for seed. Refer- 
ences: Tex. Expr. Sta. Bui. No. 79; U. S. Dept. Agr. Year- 
book. 1902, pp. 365-389; Farmers' Bulletins 217 and 314. 

Page 8. • 

Tell here how cotton should be planted, dates and rates of 
seeding, deep or shallow cultivation, etc. References: Bailey's 
Cyclo. Agr., Vol. II, pp. 257-258 ; S. C. Expr. Sta. Bui. No. 2 ; N. 
C. Dept. Agr. Bui. File; 1909 ; Ga. Expr. Sta. Buls. Nos. 43, 47, 
52, 56 and 59; Ala. Expr. Sta. Bui. No. 107; J. F. Duggar, 
Southern Field Crops, pp. 341-360; Farmers' Bui. 364, A Profit- 
able Cotton Farm. 

Pages 9 and 10. 

Cotton machinery and its uses, such as plow, disc, harrow, 
cultivator, planter, wagon, shelter, gin, cotton fiber, baling, etc." 
Give illustrations and discuss the value of each. References: 
Hunt, T. F., Forage and Fiber Crops in America, pp. 364-378 ; 
J. F. Duggar, Southern Field Crops, pp. 361-376; Farmers' Bui. 
504, pp. 20-24. 



The Agricultural Booklet 31 

Pages 11 and 12. 

(a). Use of cotton seed for feeding purposes, (b) uses of cot- 
ton seed for home food, (c) manufactured products of cotton, 
(d) Give here the seven principal or "full" grades of cotton in 
order of value. References: N. C. Sta. Bui. 200; S. C. Sta. 
Bui. 131 ; S. C. Sta. Bui. 47 ; Ala. Expr. Sta. Bui. No. 107, pp. 
369-402; Robinson, T. A., Classing Cotton; Tompkins, D. A., 
Cotton and Cotton Oil ; Yearbook Reprint 308 — Consumption of 
Cotton in the Cotton States. 

Pages 13 and 14. 

Discuss in brief, first, life history of cotton insects ; second, ex- 
tent of their injury; third, preventive measures. References: 
Farmers' Buls. 223, 344, 212 and 290; U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. 
Entomology, Buls. 51 and 74 ; Ala. Expr. Sta. Bui. No. 146 ; U. 
S. Dept. Agr., Div. of Pub., Circular 19 ; numerous publications 
of the La. Crops Pest Commission, Baton Rouge; of the Ga. 
State Board of Entomology; Atlanta and most of the Experi- 
ment Stations in the Cotton Belt. 

Page 14. 

Tell here about the chief fungous and other diseases of cotton, 
by giving cause, treatment, prevention and cure. References: 
Bailey's Cyclo. Agr., Vol. 1, pp. 450-453; Farmers' Bui. No. 302; 
Ga., Ala. and Tex. State Expr. Sta. Publications. 

Page 15. 

Give on this page the value of cotton raising as you under- 
stand it and as related to better farming and increased enjoy- 
ment of life. ' Who is benefited by the increased yield of cotton 
in this state? References: Farmers' Bui. 406; Soil Conserva- 
tion; Farmers' Bui. 299; Diversified Farming under Plantation 
System; Farmers' Bui. 310; A Successful Ala. Diversification 
Farm; Farmers' Bui. 364, A Profitable Cotton Farm. 

Page 16. 

Tell here any interesting events connected with the cotton 



82 [Jniversity of Texas Bulletin 

crop or cotton club during the summer season, such as an account 
of picnics, field meetings, club banquets, fairs, cotton shows, ex- 
cursions, etc. It will give efficiency and considerable interest 
to this method of agricultural correlation work if arrangements 
could be made to hold school or club exhibits, in which samples 
of cotton on the stalk, together with illustrative booklets, are ex- 
hibited by each pupil, and premiums and awards are made for 
the best exhibits. 

Follow in a general way the cotton booklet plan in developing 
the work in connection with any or all of the following farm 
and home subjects: Tomatoes, potatoes, cows, poultry, bread 
making, horses, sheep, hogs, ducks, turkeys, crop rotation, for- 
ests, insect enemies, plant diseases, forage crops, covered crops, 
balanced rations, fertilizers, cultivation of corn, plant propaga- 
tion, our farm and home, story of our school, soils, seeds, prun- 
ing trees, apples, use of vegetables for food, canning fruit, ven- 
tilating our homes or schools, our barns, a modern kitchen, farm 
arithmetic, kitchen arithmetic, the valuable school contests, the 
care and ventilation of the cellar, etc. The booklets may be 
graded as follows : 

Contents, 20 per cent; neatness, ^0 per cent; originality, 20 
per cent ; amount, 20 per cent ; arrangement, 20 per cent. 

It must not be understood that the references I have furnished 
are for the pupils doing the booklet work, but are to serve as 
guides for suplemental reading, both for the teacher and pupils, 
and of all the references furnished, none can be of more service 
to the teacher introducing nature study and agriculture than 
that published by Anna Botsford Comstock, entitled ^'The Hand 
Book of Nature Study for Teachers and Parents," and published 
by the Comstock Publishing Company of Ithaca, N. Y. The 
worst thing about this book is its title, and that is not bad, be- 
cause it amply describes the volume. It is a big book, almost 
one thousand pages, and not a dull paragraph from cover to 
cover. Facts ! It -is full of them, and the reader who does not 
know how fascinating a fact can be, has only to open this book 
at any page to enjoy a new experience. All the wild flowers 
that one knew and loved in boyhood are here, and their photo- 
graphs are so lifelike. The book not only takes one into the wild 



Outlook in Agricultural Education 33 

plants and weeds, but also into the flower garden and among the 
vegetables ; it tells of ferns and mosses, of mushrooms and puff- 
balls. A chapter may be found on tree lore that should tempt 
any man living out in the woods ; fruit trees also, and mountain 
laurel. 

Over half of this valuable book is devoted to animal life. I 
defy any teacher to keep this charming book out of her pupils' 
hands, unless her desk has a strong lock, and it is sure to lead 
schoool and family from the printed page out where nature is 
learned first-hand. 



THE OUTLOOK IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 

By C. H. Lane, Assistant in Agricultural Education, United 
States Department of Agriculture 

Some of the opportunities that are open to graduates of our 
agricultural schools and colleges may be classified as follows: 
It is difficult to find men satisfactorily trained for the teaching 
of agriculture in the public high schools, especially in the new 
subject of farm mechanics. It is almost impossible to secure 
for these positions men who have had any previous teaching ex- 
perience or special training for teaching, coupled with technical 
training and experience in agriculture. As public and official 
appreciation of the need of both of these requirements develops, 
this will be an attractive field to the capable student who likes 
teaching. 

The increasing use of power machinery in farm operations 
and the economical employment of the natural forces of wind, 
electricity and water power for farm use; the laying out and 
construction of correct systems of farm drainage, water supply 
and sewage disposal, and the selection, improvement and more 
efficient use of farm implements, all call for specially trained en- 
gineering ability. Scarcely enough men can now be found to 
teach the beginning of this new profession. There is none more 
promising to young men who are mechanically inclined. 

There is an increasing demand for men who are both scientifi- 
cally trained and experienced in agriculture to fill important 



34 University of Texas Bulletin 

positions in the state and national civil service, in experiment 
station work, and with corporations interested in agricultural 
productions. 

While much of the sensational writing intended to stimulate 
migration from the cities to the country may be condemned as 
extravagant or, in somes cases, wholly unwarranted, the possi- 
bilities of satisfactory financial returns from intelligent farming 
were never better than at the present, time. This is clearly 
brought out in the recent farm survey conducted by the New 
York State College of Agriculture in one of the counties of 
that state. It was found that the average annual labor income 
of 398 farmers having only a common school education was 
three hundred and eighteen dollars ($318) ; that of the 165 
farmers having some high school training was six hundred and 
twenty-two dollars ($622), and that of ten farmers who had 
spent one or more years in colleges was eight hundred and forty- 
seven dollars ($847). In other words the college man got two 
dollars and sixty-six cents ($2.66) for his day's labor, while the 
common school man got one dollar ($1). The difference is 
equivalent to a capital of five thousand, five hundred dollars 
(.4^5500) in favor of the college man. Qut these college and high 
school men in New York did not have any instruction in agri- 
culture, and it is safe to say that, if they had been given such 
training as our agricultural colleges and schools afford, their 
advantages over their uneducated competitors would have been 
even more marked. 

It may be suggested that a student in attendance at a state 
university, connected with a state agricultural college, who is 
preparing for the profession of law, medicine. Christian min- 
istry, or education, would profit greatly by including some work 
selected from the courses in agriculture. There is a quality of 
concreteness in the study of agricultural facts, principles and 
affairs that goes far to balance, and so to liberalize, the literary 
tendencies of the learned professions. 

The demand for well-trained men in agriculture will never 
be less than it is to-day. The agriculture of this country is in- 
creasing in complexity and in the struggle for profitable returns- 
on land rapidly advancing in value. This condition will inevita- 



Outlook in Agricultural Education 85 

bly create new and greater demands for yonng men trained to 
meet the scientific and business problems of the industry, and for 
those capable of solving these problems there will be a commen- 
surate reward in community leadership, financial return and 
personal satisfaction in well-doing. 

Any attempt to describe the condition in the high schools and 
colleges of this country with reference to the teaching of agri- 
culture should be based upon a quantitative study of the situation 
as outlined in the following paragraphs : 

Data recently compiled by the Agricultural Education service 
of this department bring out some very interesting facts con- 
cerning the rapid development of college and school courses in 
agriculture in the United States since the publication of similar 
data in May, 191D. In this interval of less than two years the 
total number of institutions of alf "kinds reporting students in 
agriculture has almost trebled. From a total of 864 such insti- 
tutions in 1910 the number has now increased to 2546. This in- 
crease is at an average rate of seventy-six institutions a month. 

As might be expected, the number of collegiate courses in agri- 
culture has not increased. Although there are now sixty-one 
collegiate courses, as compared with forty-seven in 1910, the in- 
crease is due to the establishment of college courses in forestry 
in four institutions. There is a considerable increase in the 
number of privately endowed colleges reporting courses in agri- 
culture, biU on account of the nature of their work in agricul- 
ture these colleges are listed among the secondary institutions. 

In most cases these privately endowed colleges disclaim any 
intention of trying to compete with the state colleges of agri- 
culture, frankly announcing that their work is secondary or 
"practical." More than two-thirds of the institutions of this 
class are in' the Mississsippi Vallley, Nebraska having eight, Illi- 
nois six, and seven other states from one to three each. Two of 
these secondary courses are horticultural, maintained in well- 
known colleges for women in Massachusetts, and two of the agri^ 
cultural courses are given by prominent universities in New 
York. 

The largest numerical increase in agricultural courses has been 
among institutions offering secondary courses, of which there 



36 University of Texas Bulletin 

are now listed 2154, as compared with 630 in 1910. These in- 
clude the forty privately endowed colleges mentioned above, 
thirty-five state colleges of agriculture offering secondary 
courses in agriculture, and a large number of agricultural high 
schools and public and private high schools and academies. In 
making up this list only those institutions reporting students in 
agriculture as a separate subject of instruction have been in- 
cluded, and in the case of high schools and academies which are 
also doing grammar school work the enrollment of students of 
agriculture in one or more high school years of the course has 
been the basis for admission to the list. 

The normal schoools are not here included in the list of sec- 
ondary institutions, because their work in agriculture is in many 
cases purely elementary. They will be mentioned elsewhere. 
The institutions for Indians have also been omitted from the list 
of secondary schools because of the difficulty of properly classi- 
fying them at the present time. They are included among the 
elementary schools. 

The number of technical agricultural schools of secondary 
grade, aside from those maintained in connection with the agri- 
cultural colleges, increased from sixtj* in 1910 to eighty-eight 
at the present time. Eight of these are private schools. The 
remaining eighty are maintained wholly or in part by state 
funds in some seventeen states, and entail an annual expendi- 
ture by the states in which they are located of $780,000 for in- 
struction and maintenance, not counting large expenditures for 
land, buildings and equipment. These are institutions which 
undertake definitely to prepare young men for the business of 
farming and young women for home making. Their courses are 
vocational rather than cultural, or preparatory, and they com- 
pete little, if at all, with the agricultural colleges or the public 
high schools. 

The area served by these agricultural schools varies in differ- 
ent states from a single county to a large indeterminate section. 
In Maryland, Michigan, Misssissippi, North Carolina, North Da- 
kota and "Wisconsin the county unit has been adopted; in Ala- 
bama and Georgia the Congressional District has been adopted 
as the unit, and in Oklahoma the Supreme Court Judicial Dis- 



Outlook in Agricultural Education 37 

triet; while in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, 
Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont the 
agricultural schools are located without reference to such di- 
visions of the state, and serve indeterminate areas. 

Wisconsin was the first state to establish county agricultural 
schools. In 1911 that state had five such schools in operation, 
Maryland had two, Michigan two, Mississippi twenty-three, and 
North Carolina four. Alabama was the first state to provide 
a complete system of agricultural schools by congressional dis- 
tricts, of which it has nine, and was followed by Georgia, with 
eleven district schools. Oklahoma has an agricultural school in 
each of its five judicial districts, and one additional school in 
the Panhandle. 

Of the schools located without reference to special divisions 
of the state, California has two, Colorado and Minnesota two 
each. New York three, and Massachusetts, Nebraska, Pennsyl- 
vania and Vermont one each. 

The number of public and private schools and academies re- 
ceiving students in agriculture now is 1886. Two hundred and 
eighty-five of these inaugurated courses in agriculture under the 
stimulus afforded by state aid, while 1601 started the work with- 
out such aid. In 1910 there were only 432 of the unaided high 
school departments of agriculture, a little more than one-fourth 
of the present number. The largest number of unsubsidized 
high school courses in agriculture is found in Ohio, which reports 
336. Nebraska has 191, Missouri 167, and Wisconsin 103. 
The United States Bureau of Education reports that in 1910 
there were over thirty-seven thousand pupils in agricultural 
courses in the public and private high schools of the country. 
The number is undoubtedly much larger this year. 

State aid to stimulate the introduction of courses in agricul- 
ture, home economics and manual arts into public high schools 
was first definitely provided for in Virginia in 1908, when the 
General Assembly appropriated $10,000 to be used for that pur- 
pose in at least one high school in each of the ten congressional 
districts in that state. Virginia was followed in 1909 by Maine 
and Minnesota, in 1910 by Louisiana, Maryland and New York, 
and in 1911 by Kansas, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Texas, and 
Wisconsin. In the spring of 1910 there were twenty-eight sub- 



38 Onivcrsity of Texas Bulletin 

sidized courses in agriculture in public schools; today there are 
more than ten times as many. Kansas has the largest number 
of subsidized courses in agriculture — an even 100; Minnesota 
has eighty, Texas thirty-four, Louisiana twenty-five, and six other 
states have from one to seventeen. 

The amount given to each school varies from $250 in Kansas 
to $4000 in Virginia. Minnesota devotes $125,000 annually to 
this work. The total expenditures for subsidies in 1912 will 
approximate $400,000. This will include subsidies for home 
economics and manual arts in all of the subsidized schools ex- 
cept those in two states which subsidize agriculture and home 
economics. Virginia is the only state that subsidizes extension 
work done by public high schools. 

No attempt has been made to list the elementary school 
teaching agriculture, except in the case of industrial, eleemosy- 
nary, and special agricultural schools, of which there are thirty- 
seven for whites, one hundred and twelve for Indians, and four- 
teen for negroes. In addition to these, there are of course many 
hundred public elementary schools in which some instruction in 
agriculture is being given. Twelve states have passed laws re- 
quiring the teaching of agriculture m all common schools, five 
others require it in all the rural schools, and three others require 
it in the rural high schools. 

The preparation of teachers to give instruction in agriculture 
is one of the serious problems confronting the promoters of this 
movement. That and the inability of many schools to pay large 
enough salaries to retain good teachers are the principal causes 
that prevent the development of agricultural teaching at even a 
more rapid rate than it is now progressing. With a view of in- 
sisting upon some Iniowledge of agriculture on the part of 
teachers, sixteen states have passed laws requiring teachers to 
be examined in this subject ; but it has been found that these re- 
quirements alone do not solve the problem. 

The facilities for training teachers along vocational lines are 
inadequate. The state normal schools are doing what they can 
to prepare their students for such work, but the time that can 
be given to vocation subjects in a year or two in the norma! 
school is extremely limited; and besides, the normal schools en- 
roll only a small percentage of those who teach in the rural com- 



Outlook in Agricultural Education 39 

mon schools. TTieir students go largely into the grade work of 
village and city schools. Out of a total of about two hundred 
normal students, one hundred and fourteen of those for whites 
and thirteen of those for negroes, are giving instruction in agri- 
culture. In addition to these, there are in Kansas, Michigan. 
Nebraska, and Wisconsin about 280 high school normal training 
courses of one or two years in length, which include some work 
in agriculture. It is said that a large percentage of those who 
graduate from these training courses go directly into the rural 
schools, and while the training they get in this way is by no 
means adequate, yet it is better than that secured by the average 
rural teacher. With the state normal schools and these training 
courses there are now over four hundred institutions giving in- 
struction in agriculture to prospective teachers in the elementary 
grades, and while the meagerness of the instruction they can 
give in agriculture is to be deprecated, it is nevertheless en- 
couraging to know that something in this line is being done in 
such a large number of institutions. 

Trained teachers for the high-school courses in agriculture are 
also scarce. The graduates of the four-year courses in the col- 
leges of agriculture find such attractive opportunities in farm- 
ing or the salaries offered them by agricultural colleges or experi- 
ment stations are so large that teaching in the public high 
schools as a profession does not appeal to many of them. Thi- 
initial salaries offered by high schools may be as good or some- 
times better than these graduates could command in other lines 
of professional or practical work, but the outlook for perma- 
nent employment and for increasing returns as the years go l)y 
is not so good. 

The condition with reference to teachers of agriculture is, 
somewhat better in the special agricultural schools and the sub- 
sidized agricultural departments in public high schools than in 
the ordinary public high schools. In the former the employment 
of trained teachers of agriculture is usually one of the condi- 
tions upon which state aid is given. The permanence of agri- 
culture in these schools is assured, and, furthermore, the funds 
from the state treasury enable the local authorities to pay rela- 
tively high salaries without seriously affecting local taxation. 
Under such conditions, the teaching positions in the vocational 



40 University of Texas Bulletin 

subjects are suflfieiently attractive to secure the favorabh; con- 
sideration of agricultural college graduates. 

The agricultural colleges are helping to solve the teacher 
problem. To meet the present emergency among teachers now 
in service, they are holding summer schools, conducting traveling 
schools in connection with teachers' institutes, and offering spe- 
cial courses in agricultural subjects for the graduates of other 
colleges and of normal schools. Tliis undoubtedly is work that 
needs to be done in all parts of the country. 

Recent experience indicates that many of the successful 
teachers now in service, after taking short courses of a few 
months or a year devoted almost exclusively to agriculture and 
methods of teaching it, are likely to become our most successful 
high-school teachers of agriculture. They have already acquired 
the high-school point of view, they know the limitations of high- 
school pupils, and they are not likely to attempt college work 
in high-school classes. Their college work in a new and inspir- 
ing subject of study gives them renewed freshness and enthus- 
iasm, and they readily see the possibilities of agriculture with- 
out being led unduly to magnify its importance. 

In other ways the agricultural colleges are beginning to make 
their influence felt in the teaching profession. The Bureau of 
Education reports that thirty-six of the colleges for white per- 
sons now offer their students some opportunities to fit them- 
selves as special teachers of agriculture for high-school work. 
Some of these offer only certain courses in general education, 
elective to students in agriculture ; a larger number offer courses 
in general education and special courses in agricultural educa- 
tion ; a few which have departments of education allow students 
in these departments to elect courses in agriculture; while none 
offer prescribed four-year courses for teachers. This feature 
of agriculture college work has grown rapidly in the past two 
years, and it will probably develop more rapidly in future. 

Whatever the agricultural colleges may have done in a spe- 
cial way to encourage the teaching of agriculture in high schools, 
an examination of the statistics of high-school courses indicates 
pretty clearly that their influence upon this movement has been 
productive almost in direct proportion to their activity. As 
evidence of this it may be said that over eighty per cent of the 
high schools teaching agriculture are in eighteen states having 



Agriculture in Texas Rural Schools 41 

in their agricultural colleges some definite organization — an ex- 
tension department, a department of agricultural education, a 
teachers' course in agriculture, or some other definite agency — 
for reaching the public schools. And, if the four or five states 
were selected which are showing the largest results in public 
school work in agriculture, these would be found to be states 
whose colleges of agriculture have been longest in this field and 
most active in its cultivation. 



THE TEACHING OF AGRICULTURE IN THE RURAL 
SCHOOLS OF TEXAS 



C. H. Winkler, It^structor in Botany in The University 
OP Texas 

If the rate of progress of a movement is a fair index to its 
importance, this movement that we call industrial education, of 
which agriculture is a very important part, is worthy of serious 
consideration by all teacl\ers, in fact, by everyone interested in 
our school system. That agricultural education is a subject of 
general interest was shown by the statistics given us by Mr. 
Lane; that it is a subject of special interest to the rural schools 
has been demonstrated wherever agriculture is being taught 
under the supervision of an efficient teacher. 

"What has been done in the rural schools elsewhere in this coun- 
try, can be done in Texas, and, although we are young in this 
work, and in spite of some mistakes made in legislation pertain- 
ing to the teaching of agriculture in the rural schools, as well 
as in the teaching of this latest of all additions to the course of 
study, we are beginning to see more definitely than before the 
purpose of this work, its relation to the courses already offered, 
its relation to the pupil, to the home, and to the community, 
and to apply such methods of instruction as will best aceom- 
;)li«h this purpose. 

The introduction of agriculture into the rural schools of 
Texfis is the result of legislation and not of an awakening 



42 University of Texas Bulletin 

* 
among the patrons of these schools to the fact that a redirec- 
tion along lines more closely related to their environment would 
increase their efficiency. Had it come about because of such a 
sentiment, the interest in agriculture and the present trend of 
agriculture teaching in our rural schools might have been dif- 
ferent. As teachers in Texas schools you are familiar with this 
movement to get some form of agricultural instruction before 
the masses of the people, a movement that assumed definiteness 
in the legislative act requiring all schools to teach agriculture. 
Although this compulsory teaching of agriculture has failed 
to meet all of our expectations, it has resulted in the accomplish- 
ment of much that is good. 

It has shown the need of trained teachers, which brought 
about further legislation two years later providing for the 
training of teachers in agriculture in our normal^ schools and in 
special summer school courses offered by these normal schools, 
the College of Industrial Arts, the Agricultural and Mechani- 
cal College and The University of Texas. It has aroused a state- 
wide interest in the teaching of agriculture, and has been largely 
responsible for a considerable volume of the agricultural lit- 
erature recently published, especially* that dealing with agri- 
cultural education. 

Now that agriculture has been put into the schools, the most 
important immediate problem is "what to teach," and in a pro- 
gram already overcrowded, "when to teach it," and "how to 
teach it?" No definite answ^er to these questions has been 
worked out as yet. Agriculture is a big subject and no one 
knows just yet how much of the elementary principles should 
be taught in the public schools. Numerous courses of study 
have been suggested, but it will require years of study and work 
before we have passed through the experimental stage in de- 
termining just M^hat to teach in the public schools. About all 
that may reasonably be expected of the rural schools at this 
time, is to interest the pupil in country life subjects so that lhoy 
may derive more pleasure from the. things coming into their daily 
experiences. We may teach them to know the common birds, 
insects, trees, weeds and some of their habits. This is nothing- 
more than nature study. In addition to this we may teach 
them some of the best farm practices, such as selecting and test- 



Agriculture in Texas Rural Schools 43 

ing seed, preparing and tilling the soil with reference to stor- 
ing and holding moisture ; some of the beneficial effects of crop 
rotation ; the pxoper care of domestic animals ; the care of milk 
and value of its fat content, etc., and through such studies lead 
children to a better appreciation of the opportunities in their 
immediate vicinity. 

It is very important to develop a spirit of sympathy for 
agriculture in the minds of all children and to bring them into 
actual contact with the farm life. Thus far almost everything 
in education has tended to direct them away from the farm. 
The district school, supported by a farming population, and 
giving instruction to farmers' children only, has failed to do 
one thing to prepare its pupils for a better farm life. Instead, 
it has tended to direct them toward other pursuits, in spite of 
the fact that more than 85 per cent remain on the farm. How 
best to develop this interest in and sympathy for the common, 
everyday experiences is the great task of the teacher of agri- 
culture. And, right here, let me ask how is the teacher who 
was reared in the city and who has shared in none of the rich 
experiences of country life to approach such a task? She may 
be in possession of all the helpful literature on this phase of 
agriculture teaching, yet, without some training in the common 
farm practices, obtained in the laboratory and school garden, 
or in that larger laboratory, actual farm experience, her work 
is likely to result in disappointment, not only to herself, but to 
the entire community. 

It is not my purpose to discourage and disparage the noble 
efforts that are being put forth in many communities to teach 
agriculture. I merely wish to show how utterly impossible it 
ts to obtain satisfactory results so long as we are without trained 
teachers and without proven methods in the teaching of agri- 
culture, and later I shall call your attention to some of the dan- 
gers that now threaten agriculture in the rural school because 
the teacher herself has so little in common with country life 
ideals. 

The task is much more difficult than the teaching of agri- 
culture in the high school. In the high school it has been prac- 
ticable to adapt the methods, with but slight changes, that are 
ns(^(l in the agricultural college, and the teacher can specialize 



44 University- of Texas Bulletin 

on one or two subjects, and thus will have more time to devote 
to agriculture. A better equipment, also, is provided for this 
work in the high school. And, since agriculture in the high 
school has come in response to a desire on the part of the patrons 
and the school board, an interest is taken in the work, whereas 
the average farmer is not in sympathy with the movement that 
put agriculture in the common schools, nor is his attitude likely 
to change until the schools have demonstrated their ability to 
deal more efficiently with the subject. The attitude of "the 
Missourian" is typical of the attitude of the Texas farmer in 
this respect; he has to be shown. And, not until the schools 
have made good in the teaching of agriculture, is he going to 
aid the work. While that was a beautiful prophecy made here 
a few days ago, the schools of Texas will first have to "make 
good" in the teaching of agriculture, and show the farmer and 
business man that this work is being done in a way that will 
benefit him and his children before he will contribute largely 
toward its support. 

These are some of the obstacles that, now prevent efficient 
teaching of agriculture in our public schools. They are not 
new problems, and w^e have already made considerable progress 
toward their speedy removal. Rural High schools will give us 
more efficient teachers for our public schools. As soon as we 
have trained teachers the farmer will change his attitude and. 
instead of remaining aloof, he will put his shoulder to the wheel 
and do all in his power .to advance the work. But we must 
have teachers w^ho have a broad enough vision of rural school 
work to adapt it to the environment, establish a closer relation 
between the school and the home, the farm, the shop, the dairy 
and the whole community life. 

A dangerous trend in the teaching of agriculture in the pub- 
lic schools is now evident. In nearly all schools it is taught 
purely as a text-book subject, Mdthout demonstrations or labo- 
ratory and field work. Agriculture can not be taught in this 
way any more than chemistry can be taught without a labora- 
tory. One of the prime purposes of industrial education is to 
develop the powers of observation and to train the hands. To 
actually engage in work, in the work of the farm, is the best 
way of bringing about a different attitude toward farming. 



Rural High Schools in Texas 45 

The dignity of labor is an important lesson that American chil- 
dren should learn, and the only place many have for learning 
it is in the public school. 

How agriculture may be taught in an already overcrowded 
schedule is a problem that is being solved in various ways. 

(1) Omit studies that are of less importance, or give less time 
to them, and thus make room for agriculture, is one solution. 

(2) Another plan is to devote one or two hours weekly to talks 
before the entire school on some subject in agriculture, and sup- 
plement this with garden work, either in the school garden or 
at the pupil's home, and finally (3), by a proper redirection 
of the work or correlation of the work in arithmetic, language 
and geography, agriculture may be taught without changing 
the present course of study. These are expedients that are rec- 
ommended only where agriculture cannot be given as a regular 
study. 

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF RU- 
RAL HIGH SCHOOLS IN TEXAS 

By T. H. Shelby, Chief Clerk op the State Department of 
Education, Austin, Texas 

the need 

There is no shortcoming of our rural school system that is 
half so keenly felt among educational leaders to-day as the utter 
lack of high schools within reasonable reach of the 633,000 boys 
and girls residing in the rural communities of this state. Only 
32,298 white children of scholastic age in Texas were enrolled 
m high-school subjects during the scholastic year 1909-10. 
Three times as many children of scholastic age were not en- 
rolled in the schools at all during the same year. Two-thirds 
of 1 per cent of the enrollment of white children in the public 
schools graduated from the high schools. Of the 4609 white 
graduates reported, only 859 graduated from high schools in 
the rural districts, which is thirteen out of every 10,000. To 
the vast majority of country boys and girls high-school oppor- 
tunities will never come except through the generous estab- 



46 i'nivtrdty of Texas Bulletin 

lishment of rural high schools. In most instances parents are 
unable, financially, to support their children in schools away 
from home. Furthermore, the child's services are needed in the 
home, to some extent at least, during the hours when school 
is not in session. Again, the child, if sent away to town to 
board and attend school, must leave home at the time he stands 
most in need of parental care and control. Disaster to the de- 
veloping character too often results. 

The observations of all those who have studied the question 
indicate clearly that the great exodus to the cities and towns 
of our rural population for better school and social opportuni- 
ties is, in many instances, working disaster not only to the chil- 
dren, but also to their parents, as well. Persons who have ad- 
justed their habits of life to rural conditions, who have become 
influential in the community life, and who hold positions of 
leadership, frequently are unable to maintain their high stand- 
ards under the artificial conditions of city life, with which 
they are in no wise familiar and for which they are not trained. 
Have we not all known people who were leading church work- 
ers and foremost in social and political affairs in the rural com- 
munity to become backsliders and non-churchgoers after a few 
years' residence in the city, and to take-«n insignificant place in 
the social and political life of the city or town community? I 
could at this moment name a half-dozen families in which the 
older children who were somewhat mature when the family 
moved to town, made good records in their classes and became 
worthy citizens. The next younger children did not measure 
up to the standards required, and, in some instances, failed 
to complete the work of the high school. The third and fourth 
children of the families, in several instances, completely failed 
to accomplish the work of the school in an acceptable manner, 
and shipwrecked before they had even reached high-school 
advancement. Had these same families remained in the coun- 
try, retaining the standards which they there maintained, and 
had the children been given proper educational advantages at 
home, who will deny the benefits to them individually and to 
society? 

Waiving all objections to leaving home for high school train- 
ing, the fact cannot be successfully, contradicted that the cur- 



h'ural High Schools in Texas 



47 



riculum of the city school, in the main, does not train the boys 
and girls toward the farm, but, on the other hand, away from 
the farm College dominance on the one hand and industrial 
and business demands on the other drown the call that comes 
to our city schools from the open country. The colleges demand 
much of languages, literature in abundance; history for at least 
three if not four, years," mathematics every year, modern lan- 
guag^ natural sciences, including chemistry, physics, botany, 
zoology, etc. The powerful industrial plants of the cities are 
demanding a training that will fit boys to become trained arti- 
zans. The forge and shop work, use of cabinet tools and elec- 
trical engineering work must have increased attention from the 
school if the industries are to co-operate in support of same. 
The business world requires that the school shall train expert 
stenographers, accountants and proficients in business dealings 
and manipulations. These schools are continually educating 
the few who come from the country to the town school away 
from their early environment. Nothing suggests to them the 
dignity or the technical importance of the agricultural pursuits. 
I doubt not that in our state, so largely agricultural, this is 
wrong. Industrial and business demands should not outweigh 
the demands for training for rural life, even in the larger cen- 
ters of population and' industrial activity. Could we success- 
fully meet this issue, we yet stand faee-to-face with the bold, 
hard fact that the great masses of country boys and -girls can- 
not or will not go to the town high school. Ninety-nine of 
every one hundred of the country boys and girls, those of our 
sons and daughters whose blood is the richest, whose bodies are 
the strongest, whose brains are the clearest and whose spirits are 
the purest, will not under present conditions have a chance to 
get even a high-school education. Approximately fifty-four 
thousand of them will pass out of scholastic age on September 1, 
of this year, and for them the door of opportunity is forever 
closed, insofar as free school education in concerned. The 
proper education of these noble sons and daughters of Texas 
rests upon our shoulders, and we cannot justly or honorably 
shift the responsibility. 



48 University vf Texas Bulletin 

MORE MONEY NECESSARY 

One good index to school conditions is to be found in the val- 
uation of school property. Of the 991,000 pupils of the state. 
633,000 are in the rural districts. The value of all school prop- 
ert}^ in these rural districts is only $6,000,000, as compared with 
$16,000,000 in the towns and cities. Two-thirds of the children 
of the state are being educated, if at all, in schools, the value 
of whose property is only 28 per cent of the total for the state. 

Fifty-five per cent only of the common school districts levy 
local taxes, while 93 per cent of the independent districts levy 
such taxes. If we compare location and size of school grounds, 
quality and serviceableness of school building, necessary school 
equipment, such as maps, globes, charts, and even blackboards, 
not to mention library and laboratory facilities, of independent 
districts with those of common school districts, we find a dis- 
parity which condemns the rural school. 

PUBLIC SENTIMENT MUST BE AROUSED 

The thing of first importance is to arouse public conscious- 
ness, dynamically and effectively, to a realization of the fact 
that high-school education must be extended as rapidly as pos- 
sible to all classes and persons of all conditions and circum- 
stances of life. We must realize that not only is this oppor- 
tunity an inalienable right X)f every boy and girl, but also that 
society and the state must carry whatever of an unwholesome 
nature may result from ignorance. Each local community 
must make up its mind definitely and effectively that the best 
is not too good for its children. We must decide to pay for the 
best. 

The most feasible method for establishing rural high schools 
is by systematic consolidation of school districts. The Kurai 
High School Law provides the necessary legal procedure. Con- 
siderations of prime importance which should guide the county 
board of education and the county superintendent are the 
population, the area, and the valuation of taxable property in 
the territory to be consolidated. There must be a sufficient 
number of pupils of school age wdthin the territory to maintain 



Rural High Schools in Texas 49 

a high school. The area of the district must not be so great 
that access to school from the more remote parts is too difficult 
or such as will, on account of cost, render trausporation im- 
practicable. The valuation of taxable property must be of such 
amount that the maximum tax authorized under the law will 
raise sufficient revenue to sustain the school. The sentiment of 
the community toward a good school must be such as will insure 
that the maximum rate will be authorized if necessary. Let us 
face squarely the fact that the present maximum tax rate as au- 
thorized by the Constitution will not provide the necessary rev- 
enue for maintaining good high schools in the country districts. 
In many of the independent districts and small towns all over the 
state the wail comes now that the maximum is insufficient. This 
limitation, insofar as the Constitution is concerned, should, and 
must, be removed in the immediate future. The principle is 
democratic and statesmanlike, and the practice is progressive. 
We would be but following, somewhat tardily, the lead of other 
progressive states in pursuing this course. With this increased 
local support we must provide better school sites, larger and 
better school houses, modern equipment, better-trained teach- 
ers, and teachers especially prepared for teaching in the coun- 
try. Public sentiment must be so developed that it will revolt 
against that species of philanthropy which actuates the farmer 
to donate a half-acre of ground on some creek bank or waste cor- 
ner of his pasture for school purposes, and will class such ac- 
tion as ordinary selfishness. The people must be taught to have 
large plans, not only for present, but also for future needs in 
planning the construction and equipment of the school-house. 
The building should be the most beautiful, the most commodi- 
ous, and the most substantial building in the community, a source 
of pride and pleasure to all the citizens. 

Classificatioji and gradation of schools and uniformity in 
the course of study are prerequisites to a systematic develop- 
ment of high schools. In many of our rural schools pupils are 
not classified according to any recognized standard, and a pupil 
may be studying subjects which are distributed over two, three, 
or even four grades. Some of his work is too easy for his ad- 
vancement, and some of it is too difficult for him to gain any 
definite Imowledge of the subject-matter. This condition re- 



50 Cniversity of Texas Bulletin 

suits in discouragement and failure on the part of the pupil. 
Again, a lack of proper gradation results in a multiplicity of 
classes, the teacher attempting to hear thirty or forty recita- 
tions during one short day. There is slight need for high 
schools if 95 per cent of our pupils, on account of such condi- 
tions, drop out of school before they reach even high-school ad- 
vancement. Is it any wonder that they drop out anyhow? 

Another prerequisite to establishing high schools is the cor- 
relation of schools one with the other. Live and professional 
county superintendents in many counties have accomplished 
much along this line in recent years. During the last twelve 
months the state course of study has been adopted in the main 
in a majority of the counties. No well regulated system of 
schools can ever be established without uniformity in the course 
of study throughout the county and practical uniformity 
throughout the state. It is necessary that the schools be classi- 
fied and that the work be limited in order that the quality of 
the work in each school may conform to a certain standard, and 
that the pupil finishing a certain grade in one school of the 
county may be able to enter the next higher grade in any other 
school of the county or of the state. The authority and the 
responsibility of bringing about the a1)ove results is clearly and 
definitely vested by the Rural IJigh School Law in the county 
superintendent and the county board of education. 

NATURE OP THE HIGH SCHOOL WE SEEK TO ESTABLISH 

The next question of concern is, What shall be the nature of 
the high school? I desire to register the belief here and now 
that we cannot succeed in our efforts if we merely attempt to 
transplant the city high school, as we ordinarily find it to-day, 
into the country. I doubt if the difference between the city 
high school, as it is, and the rural high school, as it should be, 
ougt to be so different as at present. Some branches always 
will be, and should be, found in both and taught in much the 
same manner. There must be many points of dissimilarity due 
to different environment. The curriculum of the rural school 
must manifest more rural characteristics. 

The slogan of the Nation is "Back to the farm." Each sue- 



Karat High Schools in Texas 51 

ceeding Federal census indicates a greater and greater intlux 
of people into the cities and towns. In 1900 50 3-10 per cent 
of the farms in Texas were operated by the owners. In 1910 
only 47 4-10 per cent were thus operated. In 1900 23 4-10 per 
cent of the farms were mortgaged. In 1910 33 1-3 per cent were 
mortgaged. These unwholesome conditions challenge the char- 
acter and the effectiveness of the work of our common public 
schools. The rural high school of the future must relate its 
work in a very practical and vital way to the needs of the com- 
munity life. The conservation of natural resources is the domi- 
nant note of the entire nation. 

A few examples will illustrate the importance of proper in- 
struction along this line in our rural high schools, as well as 
in the city schools. There are enormous timber resources in 
the eastern section of Texas. A casual observation will reveal 
the fact that, at the present rate of waste, in a few years or de- 
cades, at most, the supply will have been consumed. In all saw- 
mill districts the waste appears to be ruthless and wanton, the 
only thought being to extract the greatest amount of revenue 
in the shortest possible period of time. Insects of various kinds 
are preying upon our timber and causing enormous lo.sses each 
year. As the cutting of the pine timber proceeds, the danger 
from disastrous fires on account of decaying tops which are 
left scattered pell mell, becomes more alarming. Should not the 
high schools in the timbered districts of the state offer courses 
in forestry and timber preservation that the rising generation 
may be instructed along these lines and be impressed with the 
importance of these things? 

There is no country in the world that has a greater soil re- 
source than has Texas, and yet, in the black land rolling prairies 
of our state this fertile and productive soil is permitted to wash 
away and be carried by the streams into the gulches and rivers. 
The lessons m agriculture should instruct the pupils theoret- 
ically and practically in how to prevent the washing and wast- 
ing of soil, the importance of proper seed selection, the eflPect 
of rotation of crops upon their production and the principles 
of proper fertilization. In many of the black land counties 
at the present time the return each year on this black virgin soil 
is diminishing, and it will not be a great many years before the 



52 University of Texas Bulletin 

soil will have been entirely exhausted unless some steps are 
taken toward its conservation. The agricultural experiment 
people and other agencies are rendering a worthy and impor- 
tant service in this line; but the fact remains that, if we are to 
accomplish great results, we must educate the rising generation. 
Many farmers, being unable to understand the underlying prin- 
ciples which are involved in the practice of scientific agricul- 
ture, have become prejudiced against the new-fangled ideas. 

The study of home and farm economics is coming to be rec- 
ognized as of equal value with the study of Latin grammar in 
the proper education of the country boys and girls. There is 
enough wasted on many of the farms of Texas each year to 
support the entire family and have " a nice surplus. The boys 
need to be taught how to take care of the feed crop, how to best 
store it away in order that it may not be wasted by rats and 
other vermin and insects. The girls need to be taught how to 
utilize the products of the farm and how to best prepare them 
for table use. The study of domestic science, in all of its re- 
lations, is of more importance to the girls of the rural communi- 
ties than it is to the girls of our cities and towns, in which we 
find these departments in nearly every school. 

The study of business principles "that are involved in these 
various activities is also a matter of prime importance. The 
boy or the man who raises 200 bushels of corn to the acre at a 
cost of 75 cents per bushel, when corn will sell for only 60 cents 
per bushel, is a good corn raiser, but a very poor business man. 
The person who raises 500 chickens at a cost of 50 cents a head 
may be a good chicken raiser, but he will never have a very 
large bank account to his credit. This same rule applies ta 
other lines of activity upon the farm. The test of milk to de- 
termine the quality of cream, as a result of scientific investiga- 
tion, has increased the dairying products of the State of Wis- 
consin from 25 per cent to 100 per cent in various portions of the 
state. The cow that furnishes five gallons of milk per day, but" 
only produces a quarter of a pound of butter per day, may be 
a good milk cow, but a very poor bit of property, from an eco- 
nomical standpoint. 

Of no less importance than the production of farm crops is 
the marketing of the same. How many farmers in Texas are 



Rural High Schools in Texas 53 

in position to know whether oi' not they receive the proper 
classification of their cotton when they sell it? The sample i« 
examined by the man who is employed to buy ; the classification 
is made by him ; and the price is fixed by him. The farmer has 
no idea whether the classification made is correct or not, and, 
in many instances, does not even know whether, upon the classi- 
fication given, the price is approximately correct. This is true, 
notwithstanding the fact that it is a comparatively easy matter 
to learn how to judge cotton and how to classify it, and could 
be taught to every boy in the high school in a comparatively 
short period of time. What applies to the marketing of cotton, 
applies also to the marketing of all other crops which are raised 
on the farm. After all, the important thing for consideration 
is the net profit upon the crops raised. 

Concerning country-life education, the Country Life Com- 
mission appointed by President Roosevelt in 1908, has this to 
report : 

"There must be not only a fuller scheme of education, but 
a new kind of education. The country schools are to be so re- 
directed that they shall educate their pupils in terms of daily 
life. Opportunities for training toward agricultural callings 
are to be multiplied and made broadly effective. Every person 
on the land, old or young,* in school or out of school, educated 
or illiterate, must have a chance to receive the information 
necessary for a successful business and for a healthful, comfort- 
able, resourceful life, both in home and neighborhood. This 
means redoubled efforts for better country schools, and a vastly 
increased interest in the welfare of country boys and girls on 
the part of those who pay the school taxes. " 

The late Dr. S. A. Knapp, who has probably done more to up- 
lift rural life and to give schools in the country proper direc- 
tion than any, one else, has this to say: "The second great step 
in the rural uplift is the consolidation of the rural schools. The 
neighborhood school is simply adapted to a people in a very 
elemeutary condition of society. They are simply kindergar- 
ten schools; but, when too many branches demanded by modern 
conditions are thrust upon them, they are totally unsiiited to 
meet the requirements of the people. It is better for parents 
to send their children a greater distance and have a real coun- 



~A Cniversiiy of Texas Bulletin 

try school, properly equipped and graded so as to meet all the 
requirements of rural education." The high school alone, with 
a well-ordered and properly equipped plant, with specially 
trained teachers, can meet these demands. The school will then 
become a center for disseminating, not only to the pupils who 
attend, but also to citizens outside of school, the latest practical, 
scientific discoveries and experimental results relating to crops 
and crop improvement, improved methods of harvesting and 
caring for crops, and the best form in which the products may 
be prepared for marketing, as these things apply specifically 
to that community. The people can.be brought together in the 
school assembly hall to observe simple experiments on soil test- 
ing, milk testing, tests of various fertilizers and other funda- 
mental problems of farm life. The women can obtain instruc- 
tion in domestic science and clubs of various sorts, not only for 
the pupils in school, but also for the young people of the com- 
munity, and the older people, can be organized. All such plans 
must have definiteness of aim, and must be worth while. The 
school will thus become the center of the community for social 
activities, a thing much needed in the country, and will become 
the thing of chief interest, and will be recognized as the on*^ 
indispensable asset to the community. 

One of the most difficult problems for solution will be where 
and how to obtain teachers for these schools. Briefly stated, my 
contention is that the agencies proposing to furnish teachers 
must devote their attention more specifically to training for 
teaching in the country, and the salaries paid such teachers, 
who should be experts, must be commensurate with the outlay 
of money and time required in the preparation. The general 
scholarship of the country teachers must be raised. Ten thou- 
sand of the 20,000 public school teachers of Texas hold only 
second-grade certificates, and practically all of these are teach- 
ing in' the country schools. Our people must be brought to 
realize the absurdity of a second-grade teacher's attempting' 
to do first-grade or high-school work. A teacher whose maxi- 
mum scholarship is represented by a second-grade certificate, 
which is about the equivalent of the completion of the sixth or 
seventh grade of a first-class graded school, can't get results in 
a rural high school. Our state normal schools must extend 



Rural High Schools in Texas 55 

and amplify their manual training:, domestic science and agri- 
cultural courses. . The University must be strengthened in its 
agricultural department, in its domestic science work, and must 
give us manual training. It must devote itself to a study of 
farm economics and rural social life. Not only must these 
be taught in a broad and thorough way, but they must also be 
taught to persons who in turn are to teach them in the coun- 
try. They must be teacher-training courses. The study of for- 
estry as an abstract, academic subject, is a very different thing 
from the study of the forestry of Texas, with the view of teach- 
ing this subject to Texas boys and girls, and with a view of 
making it popular, practical, and of economic value to the com- 
munity. Other agencies in the state must be established for 
teacher-training. The denominational colleges and universities 
have an opportunity in this line that will place them in posi- 
tion to draw larger numbers of students from the country, and 
will enable them to render a more important and lasting service 
to the state. 

In a certain community in our sister state, Louisiana, it 
was decided a few years ago to establish an agricultural high 
school. An enterprising leader of the community worked up 
considerable interest in thig school, and, after erecting necessary 
buildings, it was found that only $650 remained with which to 
employ an agricultural teacher. Application was made to the 
agricultural experiment station of that section for a man to 
take charge of the school. The answer of the manager in charge 
of the station was to the effect that a man who could do this 
work could not be obtained for less than $800. After some hes- 
itation it was decided to employ the man recommended by the 
experiment station people and to make up by private subscrip- 
tion the difference between the $650 and the salary required. 
This was very difficult to do, but finally became an accomplished 
fact. The first work of this teacher was that of testing seed 
corn. He requested the children to bring samples of seed corn 
to the school, where the tests were made under the observation 
of the children, they being instructed meanwhile in the princi- 
ples of germination and life reproduction, etc., while, at the 
same time, they observed the practical methods of making the 
tests and the results of the tests. The reports of the tests as 



5(S Oniversity of Texas Bulletin 

made were carried by the children to their parents. One farmer 
in the community was somewhat skeptical about the teacher's 
experiments, and determined to put him to the test. He se- 
lected five ears of the corn from his open log crib, the corn hav- 
ing been exposed to the cold and damp weather during the 
winter months. He selected such as would, in his opinion, be 
good seed to plant. These he shelled and placed in a package 
to themselves, marking the package in his own peculiar way. 
He then went into the garret of his house, where he had several 
bushels stored, and selected five ears, to all appearances exactly 
like the ones selected from the crib. These he shelled and placed 
in a package, which he marked in his own peculiar way. The 
packages were sent by the children to the school. The tests 
were made under the observation of the children in the school, 
and the report on each package returned to the farmer. The 
report showed that 95 per cent of seed com in the package which 
came from the garret produced strong, healthy, young plants, 
while only 70 per cent of the corn which had been exposed in 
the open crib would germinate at all, and in a number of in- 
stances the plants were weak, and showed a lack of vigor. This 
farmer became a convert to the worl^ which he had formerly 
designated as foolishness. He furthermore became an ardent 
supporter of the public school in his community. 

This same teacher observed that many of the orchards in the, 
community were infected with a kind of lice, that the fruit was in- 
ferior, and did not ripen properly. He made a careful study of the 
subject of orchard infection by insects, instructing the children 
as to the proper methods of making solutions for spraying the 
trees, and studying the various kinds of insects and their effect 
upon plant life. At the proper time he procured the permis- 
sion of one of the farmers to spray his orchard under the ob- 
servation of the children of the school. This was a matter of 
great interest to them, nnd they received much valuable infor- 
mation from the operation. 

The next year this teacher was offered a position as expert field 
man in that state at $1800 per year, and was upon the point of ac- 
cepting the work, when a committee of farmers approached him 
and assured him that, if he was leaving on account of the salary, 
he should not go. th;i+ they would gladly pay him whatever salary 



Rural High Schools in Texas 57 

was necessary to retain his services. Passing over a few years, the 
facts show that every orchard in this communitj was freed from 
(he infection of the lice and insects which had been preying 
upon it for several years back. The people came to realize that 
the school was the most important asset to the entire community 
from an economical and business standpoint, and they rallied 
freely to its support in whatever activity was undertaken by it. 

The relation between the school and the taxpayer is a mutual 
one. That school has no right to expect the unstinted support 
of the taxpayer which does not, in a very vital and practical 
way, attempt to assist him in the solution of some of his every- 
day, practical problems on the farm, and the taxpayer who is 
not willing to pay his part for the support of the school, has no 
right to expect a return to himself. 

I shall not extend this paper further than to suggest the 
tremendous importance of efficient and effective county super- 
vision if we are to realize the rural school uplift. The county 
superintendent should be the best-trained man in the entire 
school system in the county. He should be trained thoroughly 
along these special lines, or at least should be a live and aggres- 
sive student of the same. He must not only know a good school 
when he sees it, but he must also be wise in counsel and re- 
sourceful in planning the establishment of such. He must 
know local people, which means that he must be a student of 
human nature; he must know local conditions; he must be tact- 
ful in all things and strong in executive and adminstrative 
skilt. To bring about such results, the office must be dignified. 
The qualifications must be raised, and the maximum salary 
limit removed, so that more of the best men will be attracted 
to the office, and will not be ready to leave the work when the 
first good opportunity presents itself. 



58 University of Texas Bulletin 



LOCAL TAXATION IN RURAL DISTRICTS . 

By E. V. White, of the State Department of Education, 
Austin, Texas 

introductory 

Without indicating any given phase of the subject, the Dean 
of the University Summer School has invited me to discuss the 
general question of Local Taxation for School Purposes. Time 
will not permit me to mention all that might be said under a 
subject so broad and so important. I shall therefore attempt 
to discuss only such parts of the subject as seem most apropri- 
ate to this occasion. 

Before this audience I assume that it is not necessary to dis- 
cuss the righteousness of the principle of levying taxes for ed- 
ucational purposes. I therefore dismiss this phase of the sub- 
ject with the following statements: The justice, the wisdom 
and the propriety of exacting taxes for the liberal maintenance 
of good schools should not in this da;^ and time be a debatable 
proposition with a progressive county superintedent or with 
a conscientious prospective county superintendent. If he has 
to debate the proposition to determine where he stands, or if 
he has to hold chimney-corner consultations with friends to de- 
termine whether the proposition shall be a plank in his political 
platform, he should modestly retire at once from the office or 
from the race, and conserve the energy which will inevitably 
be expended by a progressive citizenship in consigning him, 
together with his doubting inconsistencies, to the political junk- 
pile and to the educational cemetery. A moderate amount of 
professional pride will deter any self-respecting teacher from 
owing his election to the office of county superintendent to 
embarrassing compromises and to political dickerings with the 
anti-school tax citizenship of his county. 

phases of the subject 

In general, T wish to discuss (1) the progress of local taxa- 



Taxation in Rural Districts 5f) 

tion in Texas, making a few comparisons with other states; (2) 
the means which a county superintendent may employ in con- 
ducting campaigns for local taxation, and (3) to show incident- 
ally what I believe to be the duty of the county superintendent 
respecting this question. 

FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES 

A study of special tax movements justifies a brief considera- 
tion of the progress that has been made by the nation in re- 
cent years. According to the partial report for 1911 of the 
Commissioner of Education, the following figures indicate the 
marvelous increase of financial support to the common public 
schools during the past decade: 

Value of school property in 1900 $550,531,217 

Value of school property in 1909 967,775,587 

Derived from state taxation, 1900 37,281,256 

Derived from state taxation, 1909 63.247,354 

Derived from local taxation, 1900 149,486,845 

Derived from local taxation, 1909 288,642,500 

Thus it is shown that the value of public school property in 
the past decade increased 75 per cent, and that the income of 
public schools increased more than 83 per cent. Special at- 
tention is directed to the fact that the income derived from local 
taxation in 1909 was 90 per cent more than, the income derived 
from this source in 1900. 

COMPARISON OF FIFTEEN LEADING STATES 

As will later be shown, Texas is making remarkable strides. 
However, she is still far from the top. The following table is 
a comparison of Texas with fourteen other leading states with 
respect (a) to the per cent of funds derived from local taxa- 
tion and (b) to the expenditure per pupil based on the average 
daily attendance, the figures being for the scTiool year 1908-09, 
which are the latest figures available on this subject: 



60 University of Texas Bulletin 

Per cent of funds Expenditure per pupil 

deriver from local on average daily 

State — taxation. attendance. 

Average U. S 71.5 $31.65 

New Hampshire 85.0 32.45 

Massachusetts 96.0 44.49 

New York 85.0 48.39 

New Jersey 66.0 51.03 

Louisiana 61.0 21.10 

Oklahoma 75.0 8^67 

Nebraska , 76.0 ' 37.63 

Indiana ." 73.0 31.53 

Illinois 75.0 42.87 

Minnesota 60.0 38.71 

California 59.0 59.01 

Oregon 80.0 38.51 

Washington 60.0 56.99 

Ohio 83.0 38.75 

Texas 33.0 18.50 

Of the fifteen states compared, Massachusetts ranks first in 
per cent of funds derived from local taxation, New York and 
New Hampshire being in contest for second place, while Texas 
is last, being less than one-half the average in all the states of 
the Union. In expenditure per pupil on average daily attend- 
ance California ranks first, Washington second. New Jersey, a 
state to which the nation sometimes goes in its search for men, 
holding third place, while Texas holds little more than her own 
in place fourteen, being a little more than 50 per cent of the 
average state in the Union. It is perhaps fair to say that no 
comparison is here made of Texas with respect to area or with 
respect to proximity to Old Mexico, in either of which cases 
Texas excels all the other states considered. 

PROGRESS OF LOCAL TAXATION IN TEXAS 

While we stand low in the list, it would be an unfair discus- 
sion and a reflection on the state's intelligent citizenship to fail 
to observe the remarkable strides that have been made in our 



Taxation in Rural Districts 61 

state within recent years. All our people needed was informa- 
tion as to our standing. It all began about five years ago, when 
a few strong teachers conducted the most vigorous and most 
far-reaching educational campaign ever conducted, perhaps, in 
a modern state, resulting in the overwhelming adoption of an 
amendment in 1908, which has made possible the establishment 
of good schools in the country. The past four years have wit- 
nessed a marvelous growth in the educational sentiment of rural 
communities. Prior to that time very few common-school dis- 
tricts levied a special school tax and practically none had issued 
bonds for the construction of school houses. 

The reports of the Slate Department of Education for the 
year 1910-11, which are the latest approved statistics available, 
show that there are 8053 common school districts, maintaining 
9043 white schools and 1979 negro schools. Of this number of 
districts, 4449, 55 per cent, levied and collected a special tax 
for the year. This is an increase of 5 per cent over the report 
for the previous year. The records further show for the school 
year 1910-11 that 327 common school districts issued bonds ag- 
gregating $654,596 for the construction of sanitary school 
houses for the country children. 

Several counties levy a local tax in every district, while many 
other counties have been aroused from several generations of 
educational slumber by the leadership of progressive county 
superintendents. I wish to say here that in my opinion more 
has been done in the last five years by county superintendents 
than would have been done by ex-officio county superinten- 
dents under the old regime from that time' till the Judgment 
Day. In the effort to construct good country school-houses by 
the issuance of bonds during the year 1910-11 the following 
counties deserve special commendation : 

Harris County, the banner county, in ten bond issues 

spent ^ $157,750 

Hidalgo County in five issues 53,000 

Hopkins County in six issues 58,000 

Jefferson County in three issues 52,000 

Jones County in nine issues 14,000 

Andrews County in three issues 12,225 



(i2 University of Texas Bulletin 

Armstrong County in four issues $ 9,000 

Palmer County in three issues 25,000 

Rusk County in six issues 53,000 

Tarrant County in six issues 32,000 

Wheeler County in seven issues 12,160 

Wood County in fourteen issues 16,900 

In eighty counties responding to communications on this sub- 
ject there is a total of 538 common school districts reported as 
levying more than a 20-cent tax, the old constitutional limit, 
while the same counties report 127 districts as levying the max- 
imum tax of 50 cents. Only thirteen counties reported no dis- 
tricts levying more than 20 cents. In his address before the 
State Teachers' Association at Waco, the State Superintendent 
has shown that the funds raised by local taxation in the entire 
State increased from $2,197,590 in 1905 to $7,103,735 in 1910, 
a gain of 223 per cent in five years. For the same years, in- 
cluding the local tax collected to provide for the interest and 
sinking fund of outstanding bonds, the records of the Depart- 
ment of Education show that the special tax of the common 
school districts increased from $47^.872 to $1,712,282, a gain 
of 357 per cent in five years. 

CAMPAIGNS FOR LOCAL TAXATION 

I shall now pass to a brief discussion of the means of con- 
ducting educational campaigns in special tax elections. I as- 
sume it to be a self-evident truth that back of all school prog- 
ress there must be a healthy and enlightened public sentiment, 
that a school can not rise permanently above the quality and 
character of citizenship in which it is maintained. It should, 
therefore, be understood that is is not the object of a campaign 
for educational purposes to hoodwink the people or to hide be- 
hind any infirmaties or prejudices which the people may pos- 
sess; on the other hand, the right kind of campaign, rightly, 
honestly and conscientiously conducted, will leave the people 
the beneficiaries, giving them an ardent desire to contribute to 
good government by and through the maintenance of liberal 
educational advantages. 



Taxation in Rural Districts 63 

Considering the general effect upon the permanent intelli- 
gence of a community, the acquisition of funds by the popular 
vote of local taxpayers is one of the most desirable means of 
raising school revenue, having a wholesome effect which com- 
prehends all phases of social and civic activity. As in other 
matters, the independent, free-thinking element of a com- 
munity 's population is the determining factor in school matters. 
The local pride of this element will determine whether we shall 
cling exclusively to time-honored ideals without regard to their 
present application, or give edequate trial to new and progres- 
sive demands. Whatever may be the advantages or virtues in 
the other modes of procuring school revenues, the acquisition 
of funds by local pride and effort is one of the wise provisions 
of the law. 

But what are some of the specifle ways in which this question 
may be intelligently and forcibly presented? The following 
suggestions are offered, no attempt being made to arrange them 
in order of their importance: 

(1) The publication for free distribution of a school annual, 
containing the general progress and needs of the schools in the 
county, together with statistical information with respect to the 
name and number of each school, the special tax levied in each 
district, the number of teachers employed, the amount of bonds 
issued, the classification given each by the county board, the 
enrollment, census enumeration and the average daily attend- 
ance, the per capita wealth, the per capita special tax, the special 
tax and average per capita wealth per child of school age, ap- 
propriate comparisons of a few schools with other schools of the 
county and of all schools with similar schools in the state o,r' in 
other counties, special mention of commendable features pecu- 
liar to the county, and such other information as may appear 
necessary. A - book of this kind should be interspersed with 
school pictures, and should contain such reading matter as will 
insure its preservation. If necessary the expense may be borne 
by the advertisements. A neat, attractive publication will not 
only indicate the efficiency of the county superintendent, but 
it will also be a powerful agency for improvement of school 
sentiment. 

(2) An educational chart of the county, showing graphic illus- 



64 University of Texas Bulletin 

trations of the most important facts of the several districts with 
respect to local taxation is often a more forcible means of pre- 
senting the issue than logic or eloquence. The tables and 
graphic comparisons published recently by the Hogg Organi- 
zation furnish a good example. A half dozen, painted on can- 
vas, one to be hung in the office of the county superintendent, 
one to be carried from place to place by the county superinten- 
dent for making illustrations, the others to be exhibited in se- 
lected places, render invaluable aid to the cause of education. 

(3) Almost invariably the county newspapers stand unselfishly 
for the promotion of education. They gladly offer their col- 
umns for the free and unlimited discussion of educational 
topics. An educational column, edited by the county superin- 
dent and such assistants as he may need, and published in the 
weekly county newspapers, will make interesting reading for 
a large per cent of the intelligent country people. The effec- 
tiveness of this way of reaching the people can be better appre- 
ciated when we recall that all people have a tendency to believe 
what they see and read in print. 

(4) In the organization and prosecution of a general educa- 
tional campaign for the schools of the county by the county 
superintendent and other friends of education, the following 
means deserve special mention: A special education day to be 
observed by all schools in the county ; special addresses by com- 
petent speakers at all school entertainments ; exhibits of school 
work in the office of the county superintendent, at county 
fairs, etc. ; specially prepared sermons by local ministers and 
pastors; appropriate discussions in local institutes for the im- 
provement of school interest and school co-operation; carefully 
prepared programs for debating and literary societies; co-oper- 
ation of parents' clubs, farmers' unions, civic and educational 
organizations; organization of county trustees, inducement of 
candidates, from the highest to the lowest, to express their sym- 
pathy with education in all public addresses; public and pri- 
vate utterances of the county superintendent of his unequivo- 
cal belief in local taxation ; urgent solicitation of the young men, 
especially those who vote, to become actively interested in good 
schools; and, I may say, such other opportunities as may arise 
in the local conditions of the county. 



Taxation in Rural Districts 65 

(5) Concentrate on a few available places at a time, bringing 
to bear all means to make the issue successful, llemember that 
it is better to do much in a few districts, thereby making the 
outcome successful, than to do little in many districts, result- 
ing in failure. Get some of the leading citizens to take the lead 
in the movement. Suppose a few cases and give a few calucula- 
tions to show the amount of tax which individuals worth given 
values of property will have to pay if the proposed issue car- 
ries: for instance, the owner of $5000 worth of property would 
ordinarily render for taxation about $2500. A yearly tax of 
20 cents on the $100 valuation would be only $5. What citizen 
worth $5000, who has a pride in the school of his community, 
could with self-respect decline to make this small annual con- 
tribution to the education of his children and the children of his 
community? Similarly make calculations that would likely in- 
clude other property 0T\Tiers. Concrete illustrations, showing 
definitely what a man will have to pay, often win, when no 
amount of abstract argument will avail anything, whatever. 

It is needless for me to say that the effective leadership of 
a genuinely competent county superintendent in organizing 
and directing all the educational forces is the most essential 
factor- mentioned. I trust also that I have left the impression 
that the county superintendent who refrains from active, dis- 
creet service in an endeavor for increased local taxation, is a 
political coward, an educational heretic, and a public nuisance. 

Already the progressive spirit of the age is spreading with 
irresistable force. Even in Texas the death knell is being 
sounded by a sovereign citizenship against the reign of igno- 
rance and its accompaniment of vice. The happiness of the 
people, the preservation of their liberties, the perpetuity of 
government, are dependent solely upon the education of the 
masses through an efficient system of public education, main- 
tained largely through the means of local taxation; and, in re- 
sponse to the demands oi good citizenship, as self-respecting 
teachers, it is your duty and mine to see to it that the issue is 
fairly, properly, and vigorously presented in the name of the 
countrv children of Texas. 



66 University of Texas Bulletin 



THE RURAL HIGH SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL CENTER 

By N. J. Clancy, op the State Department of Education, 
Austin, Texas 

Thus far the school has not held its rightful place in the af- 
fections of its friends — the patrons. Too much has been left 
to the teachers and school board. Those who furnished the 
children have paid, in too many instances, very little attention 
to the real work in the school-room. I recall the time when 
patrons would visit the schools only on special occasions, such 
as concerts, Friday afternoon declaiming by the school children, 
and occasionally a spelling bee. Even such short visits so far 
between were of considerable value to the schools. Children 
are almost always glad to see their parents and friends come 
to pay them a visit. Teachers are more nearly at their best 
on such occasions. Some years ago I taught in a public school 
having about five hundred children in attendance, and, when I 
began to invite the patrons and friends to visit the school, a 
lady patron said she did not know that* the people were wanted 
about the school building during the time the school was in ses- 
sion. There are perhaps many people who so think now. 
Where does the fault lie? It may be due to a lack of tact on 
the part of the teaching force to put the matter in its proper 
light before the community. 

There are many who readily recall the time when the school 
building was locked more than half the year, and thereby the 
public was deprived of the use of the building for all purposes 
except that of actual teaching. The things taught in. the school 
had little bearing on what the children would do to earn their 
livelihood, and therefore, the patrons saw very little in the 
school for anybody exept the child, and the child saw very little 
in what he studied except for its own sake. Since industrial 
education began to claim some right to a division of both time 
and thoughtful attention, we are beginning to see the school 
in new relations to the life of the community. 

By a careful study of the enrollment and attendance of chil- 
dren in our public and even our private schools we are forced to 



Rural High School as a Social Center 67 

the conclusion that something must be radically wrong. In 
1909-10 only about sixty-two out of each one hundred children 
enrolled in the schools were in actual average daily attendance, 
while about thirty-eight were absent every day during the time 
the schools were kept open for the children. It can not be 
maintained that bad roads are entirely responsible for this lack 
of attendance. When due allowance is made for bad roads, 
poor school buildings, lack of equipment, and also the possibility 
of an occasional poor teacher, the number of absences would 
barely be reduced to forty out of each one hundred children 
enumerated by the census trustee. The child, therefore, has a 
school that at best reaches only 60 per cent of efficiency. How 
to use that 40 per cent of waste is a serious problem. If the 
school approaches no more nearly to efficiency than 60 per cent, 
it would, in a business sense, have very little right to exist. It 
is true that 100 per cent of attendance does not necessarily mean 
100 per cent of efficiency; yet few, if any, will deny the fact 
that attendance makes possible much that materially belongs 
to the child as his rightful possession. The influence of prompt 
attendance on the school is perhaps one of the most helpful 
agencies the school has. In the rural districts the attendance 
is poorer than it is in th*e towns, villages and cities, due no 
doubt to a lack of enthusiasm growing out of the" social feature 
of the schools in the more thickly populated centers. 

The fact that our schools have done so little for the children 
in preparing them or even aiding them in selecting the work 
for which they are best adapted, is measurably responsible, in 
my opinion, for the little interest taken by parents and guar- 
dians. The lack of means to support and equip rural high 
schools has made it well nigh impossible to have them, and as a 
result the rural districts have lost in population and in the pro- 
duction of wealth. It has often happened that the rural dis- 
tricts M^ould lose the land owner, and the land tenant would 
take his place. The schools at present in the rural districts are 
now beginning to attract the attention of the more thoughtful 
citizens who seem to be ready to take advantage of the oppor- 
tunity to establish, equip and maintain high schools in which 
such subjects as will be of great practical value to the children, 
both in the selection of their life-work and in making them 



68 University of Texas Bulletin 

better qualified to compete with the world of workmen among 
whom they must move and among whom they must earn their 
daily bread. But the schools must offer, and indeed they are 
now offering, courses of instruction to parents and to those also 
who have grown to manhood and womanhood with little or no 
equipment for their life-work. The schools must stress such" 
occupations as the communities in which they are established 
offer. If agriculture is the chief business of the people in a 
given district the school must have a department of agriculture 
presided over by teachers who are prepared to give such in- 
struction as will enable the boys to produce the best crops at the 
least cost and with the least amount of labor. Instruction in 
agriculture should be such as to make intensive farming not only 
profitable, but also tolerable. Many a boy has failed to see 
the beauty in farm work solely because it was almost purely a 
grind from 4 o'clock in the morning until it became too dark 
for him to see how to do his task. He could not understand 
the "independence of the farmer," as compared with the mer- 
chant, and with little persuasion he was ready for a change. 

TTie school now becomes the center of interest to the farm 
workers, and such clubs as will bes* emphasize the practical 
value of the principles of agriculture are being organized. Sup- 
pose, for example, that a high school is established in a district 
adapted to the "diversification" of crops, it is the duty of the 
school to offer such courses as will be of practical value to those 
engaged in the production of the different kinds of crops. Fruit 
growing, trucking, etc., must have their share of thoughtful 
attention in order that those thus engaged may not only pro- 
duce, but that they may conserve what they have produced. 
The school now becomes a center of intelligent industry, and 
thereby touches life at its center instead of its outer rim or cir- 
cumference. The school building will not remain locked one- 
third or one-half of the year; but it will be a place of common 
interest — a center of intelligence — a study center. The build- 
ing must contain an auditorium, library or reading room, and 
a basement. 

District No. 14 in a county known as A issues bonds to the 
extent of its authority, say $25,000, not to build a barn, but to 
build a school-house. The first thing to be determined is what 



Rural High School as a Social Center 69 

kind of school building, size, etc., and number of rooms. 

The district has a scholastic population of 300, and, there- 
fore, a population of approximately fifteen hundred, composed 
of 150 homes. The equipment of the building must be such 
as to render it the most usable building in the district, and, 
therefore, it is easy to see that not more than 80 per cent or 90 
per cent, perhaps somewhat less than either of these rates, should 
be expended in the house alone. 

The library, reading room, and auditorium should be of such 
sizes as to accommodate the largest number of people that could 
be induced to take advantage of the opportunities to be offered. 
Of course a careful study should be made of the local conditions 
in this district in order to determine the best and most econom- 
ical expenditure of the $25,000 which is to be for the use and 
benefit of every man, woman, and child in the district. Manual 
training and domestic science must be provided for in order that 
the school shall be helpful to the home life in the district. The 
one hundred and fifty homes in this district can easily and 
cheaply be supplied with all the books, magazines, papers, and 
periodicals they can possibly have time or inclination to use to 
the best advantage. A small fee raised by common consent from 
each of the homes will b^ ample to meet current expenses in pro- 
viding books, etc., sufficient for them. Lectures may be provided 
for teaching such subjects or parts of subjects as will be of most 
value to the district homes. "Box suppers" or such other means 
as will best suit the people in the district may be used as a means 
to some desirable end Avhich would require an outlay of funds. 
Intelligent leadership in this new movement will be found to be 
absolutely indispensable, for the reason that it does not require 
much time to tire people of one kind of entertainment or amuse- 
ment. Nor must it be lost sight of that every kind of entertain- 
ment or amusement must have educative value. 

A social center should not be a center of foolishness. Every 
meeting or gathering should have some definite aim well planned 
and well executed, if the district is to have the largest benefits 
accruing therefrom. A judicious use -of the different kinds of 
clubs will be of great practical value in aiding the district to 
realize its aim. All agencies employed should have some in- 



70 University -of Texas Bulletin 

trinsic worth, in order that the people may develop morally, 
socially, intellectually, and spiritually. 

As a conclusion to this paper, I wish to read two letters, which 
were written by Miss Amanda Stoltzfus, the principal of a rural 
school in Bee County, Texas, and which furnish concrete evi- 
dence of the desirability of utilizing the rural sc'.ool as a social 
center. The first letter reads as follows: 

"From the first mass meeting when our people met to consider 
the building of a good school, to voting the highest tax for school 
purposes and bonding the district to further insure the success 
of the project, our people have been a unit. They have had com- 
plete confidence in their faculty, and have responded to every 
call which pertained to aiding the school in any way. It is to 
this progressive spirit that the success of the Tuleta Rural High 
School should primarily be attributed. 

"We have tried to interest all ages and classes in our school 
plant. The school farm of fifteen acres is being cultivated by 
the school and its patrons. It is divided into plats which will be 
used as seed-breeding areas, and a means of some income. Cot- 
ton, broom-corn, maize, and watermelons will be our chief crops. 
We are also making alfalfa experiments. We subsoiled two 
acres with dynamite, and are looking forward with interest to 
comparative results. 

"In this connection, we have organized a farmers' club, which 
will co-operate with the school in seed experimentation. Our aim 
is to breed pure seed to snit this climate. 

"The mothers meet regularly in the school kitchen, where the 
instructor in domestic science gives a demonstration in cookery, 
sewing, or laundry. Parallel with these lectures are discussions 
in sanitation, child welfare, etc. The social feature is the chief 
good. The ladies have a pleasant visit with one another, learn 
to know one another better, meet the teachers of their children, 
and thus plan campaigns for winning and keeping the boy, or 
girl who otherwise- might be misunderstood and perhaps leave 
school. The mothers are also very much interested in the school 
society, which meets alternate Friday afternoons. Upon these 
occasions the programs consist of debates, stories, compositions, 
etc. 

"There is a class of young people beyond school age who are 



Rural High School as a Social Center 71 

gettino: lip a drama for the benefit of the school. They will con- 
tinue their meetings after this entertainment. 

"One of the mothers is studying and reciting each day the 
fourth-grade work. She comes after her little son returns from 
school, when he takes care of the two younger children while his 
mother is in school. 

"Both mothers and fathers are very much interested in the 
library. One farmer has read almost all the books, and we have 
about two hundred volumes. A number of people outside of 
school are acquiring the reading habit, r.s are many of the school 
children, who previously knew Lothing of literature outside of 
Sunday school lessor? and school readers. 

"We have many socia) affairs combited with some intellectual 
features, such as box supper and lecture ; farmers ' institute and 
basket dinner; meeting for cleaning up the school grounds; spe- 
cial occasions such as Hallowe'en party, Christmas music with 
stereopticon, showing masterpieces of life of Christ, Valentine 
party, review of history in form of games, judge parties, etc. A 
Christmas bazaar in which both parents and children partici- 
pated brought in funds for table linen for the domestic science 
class. 

"The school-mothers, teaphers, and older girls furnished de- 
licious lunch for the visitors at the 'Dynamite Demonstration.' 
Many mothers furnished pies for this occasion. 

"The boys raised money for the flag staff and the fathers 
helped to put it up. 

"The girls bring from home the materials for their work in 
cooking and sewing classes. The boys collect store boxes and 
other scraps of lumber, with which they have been able to make 
many useful and really beautiful projects for the home and 
school. They made their own work benches, did part of the car- 
pentry upon the shop, test the farmers' milk, keep account of 
weight of milk given by individual cows at home, trim and plant 
trees on the school ground, made the cold frames for the early 
plants, the frame for the grindstone, hills for melons, etc., etc. 

"During the summer a union Sunday school is held in the 
schoolhouse, and the library is open each Saturday afternoon. 
A dozen of the best farm papers are on the reading table in the 
agricultural laboratory, as are files of the farmers' bulletins. 



72 University of Texas Bidletin 

"Basketball and baseball are the favorite team games played 
upon the school ground. 

"The school children join the 'town' people in cleaning and 
beautifying our town park. 

"Our closing exercises are all-day affairs. People come for 
miles around, listen to the pupils' program in the morning, 
spread a magnificent basket dinner where everybody eats all he 
wishes and the baskets return home with quantities of frag- 
ments. The afternoon is given to some lecturer, while in the even- 
ing is the literary society entertainment. Here, the people who 
cannot get into the house have been known to stand on ladders 
on the outside. 

■ "We want to secure lecture courses for each month. We gen- 
erally secure the services of a number of prominent agriculture 
men during the year, and only regret our distance from the State 
University, whence we feel we could receive so much in- 
spiration by way of talks from the professors of different de- 
partments. 

"This is but our second term of school, and we feel that our 
beginning has been very encouraging. Our seating capacity is 
being crowded, and more farmers ^are having their children 
transferred to our district, which we hope will be enlarged in the 
near future. At present we are the smallest district in Bee 
County. ' ' 

Here is the second letter: 

"The latest features of our work is the Young Ladies' Sewing 
Club, which will meet . alternate Friday afternoons, and plans 
for a series of excursions by the classes in agriculture, the first 
of which was made this week when in company with two teachers 
they all went to the Beeville Experiment Station. The next trip 
will be to an old-fashioned cattle ranch. 

"The majority of thf people here are from other sections of 
the country, many from Illinois and Iowa, some from Tennessee 
and other Southern states. After having lived here for several 
years with poor or no school advantages, they feel very keenly 
the need of better educational advantages. Being a very prac- 
tical body of citizens, the idea of departments of agriculture 
and courses of handwork for their children truly appealed to 
them and they voted for a good rural high school. They learned 



Bitral High School as a Social Center 73 

that the State of Texas was willing to lend a hand, so they ap- 
plied for and received the appropriation. They donated twenty 
acres of fine land for a school farm. This borders on the town 
Bite. 

"To succeed in a work of this kind, the teacher in charge must 
be enthusiastic, tactful, willing to make sacrifices, and be strong 
enough to endure hard work — but. oh, such interesting work! 
He can fairly see things grow, and this pleasure is a large share 
of his compensation. 

"We are a very quiet community. The school with its ad- 
juncts is the most attractive institution in the place. 

"if we, perhaps the weakest district in Southwest Texas, so 
far as income from public money goes, can build a successful 
school, there is no reason why such schools could not be built 
wherever needed. There must first be a need and a willingness 
to sacrifice if necessary in any way, to accomplish it. Public 
sentiment must first be awakened. Could this not be accom- 
plished largely by 'live wires' from the State University? 

"When the people feel the need of a good school, they will 
have it. 

"Our community has been carved out of one of the great 
ranches which compose 85 .per cent of Bee County. Five_ years 
ago this site was all in brush and cactus. To-day we have two 
mercantile houses, a postofifie, a blacksmith shop and a neat little 
depot at our railroad station, where all the trains on the 'Sap' 
will stop when signaled. We have a flourishing broom factory 
and good prospects of getting a cotton .gin next year. We have 
one hotel in operation, with another, more pretentious, in process 
of building, and located in the town park which is under the 
supervision of the ladies of the Tideta Civic League. One church 
building is located in our town, with promise of another. 

"This term we have enrolled one hundred forty pupils, with 
an average attendance of about eighty-five or ninety. 

"I plan the program and the course of study, which consists 
of two courses — agricultural, and English classical. I was so 
anxious to introduce a class in German, but space forbade this 
term. We have enrolled fifteen high-school pupils, forty inter- 
mediate, and the remaining are below the fifth grade. 

"The teacher of domestic science also teaches physiology, while 



74 University of Texas Bulletin 

the teacher in charge of agriculture also teaches the kindred sub- 
jects of geography, nature study, and also has charge of the wood 
shop. 

"We have some form of handwork in each grade. I believe 
that this is necessary to secure expression 'without which there 
is no impression.' 

"As to my letters, they were not written with a view of pub- 
lishing them. But if you think their form and contents justify 
your making such use of them, I have no objection when I con- 
sider they might help some one else work for good rural schools." 



SIX-YEAR TERMS FOR SCHOOL BOARDS AND PERMA- 
NENT SUPPORT FOR HIGHER INSTITUTIONS 



BY 



S. M. N. Marks, Superintendent of City Schools, Terrell. 
Texas 

The Thirty-second Legislature submitted the following amend- 
ment to our State Constitution to be voted upon at the next gen- 
eral election in November : 

Amend Art. XVI by adding 30a. 

"The Legislature may provide by law that the members of 
the Board of Regents of the State University and Boards of 
Trustees or managers of the educational, eleemosynary and penal 
institutions of the state, and such boards as have been, or may 
hereafter be established by law, may hold their respective offices 
for a term of six years, one-third of the members of such boards 
to be elected or appointed every two years in such manner as the 
Legislature may determine ; vacancies in such offices to be filled 
as may be provided by law, and the Legislature may enact suit- 
able laws to give effect to this section." 

The adoption of this amendment will be a long step forward 
in the progress of the school system of the state, besides tending 
to remove from political influences the eleemos.^Tiary and penal 
institutions. Without discussing the desirability of changing 
the method of procuring the boards of control and the conse- 



Six-year Terms for Schuol Boards 75 

quent political influences which have been so detrimental to the 
successful management and control of the eleemosynary and 
penal institutions, which are familiar to those of us who have 
given any thought to such matters, I shall undertake to review 
the conditions as applied to educational institutions and show 
the necessity of incorporating in our Constitution some definite 
recognition of the importance of the office by authorizing a longer 
tenure than two years. 

An investigation of the history of public education in the 
United States discloses the interesting fact that in the enactment 
of laws for governing boards, provision was made uniformly for 
a long tenure of office. The earliest school board of which we 
have any record was that of the public school of Dorchester, 
Massachusetts, in 1645, two hundred thirty-seven years ago, 
which provided for "three able and sufficient men of the planta- 
tion to be chosen to be wardens or overseers of the school, who 
shall have charge, oversight, and ordering thereof, and of all 
things concerning the same in such a manner as is hereafter ex- 
pressed, and shall continue in this office and place for the term 
of their lives respectively, unless by reason of any of them remov- 
ing his habitation out of the town or for any other weighty rea- 
son." This board of trustees was elected by the people. For this 
extreme position of life tenure of office the term gradually became 
restricted to five, six, seven, or nine years. The idea has always?' 
prevailed among those who have given serious thought to the' 
problem, that excessive care should be taken in the selection of 
these officials; that special qualifications should be demanded 
which would fit them to perform the duties required, and suffi- 
cient time should be given them to become familiar with the 
duties of the office and to carry to a successful termination any 
policy that might be adopted. 

While the various constitutions of Texas have always been 
careful to limit the length of term of state officials and thus to 
require frequent elections, from 1854 until 1900 no attempt was 
made to give the various members of such boards as are men- 
tioned in this amendment, the status of officers within the mean- 
ing of the Constitution and a consequent limitation of a two-year 
tenure. On the contrary, there is abundant legislative and exec- 



76 University ' of Texas Bulletin 

utive construction which justified the assumption that the 
framers of the Constitution did not intend this limitation to 
apply to such officials. 

In 1879 the Legislature enacted a law providing for boards of 
trustees for the schools of independent districts to serve for four 
years, and this act was approved by Hon. 0. M. Eoberts, one of 
the best judges of constitutional law that has ever graced the 
supreme bench. Again in 1881 the law providing for a Board 
of Regents for the State University to serve a term of eight 
years, besides receiving the approval of Governor Roberts, had 
also the special sanction and approval of the late Hon. A. AV. 
Terrell. 

In 1883, when Hon. John Ireland, another eminent jurist, was 
Governor, a law was enacted giving permission to such cities as 
had assumed control of their schools and were exercising such 
control, the right to appoint a board of six school trustees whose 
term should be three years, one-third to be appointed each year. 

Four-year terms were given by special charters to the boards 
of trustees in Fort Worth and Paris in 1889, and Austin in 
1891. From 1871 till 1873 no oath of office was required of 
school trustees. In one of the messages sent to the Legislature 
by Gov. C. A. Culberson, referring to the Board of Regents of 
the University, he stated distinctly that in his opinion they were 
not officers within the meaning of the Constitution. 

In 1899 the Legislature attempted to harmonize all of the 
statutes foverning the boards of trustees of independent school 
districts and provided a four-year term of office. The constitu- 
tionality of this act, as to tenure of office, was attacked in the 
case of Kimbrough vs. Barnett of Houston (93 Texas, p. 301), 
and the Supreme Court in 1900 held the act unconstitutional. 
As soon thereafter as practicable the Legislature enacted the 
present law limiting the term of office of school trustees in all 
school districts to two years, and also recognized the same term 
of office for the boards of control of all eleemosynary and penal 
institutions, as well as of the higher institutions of learning. 

It is obvious that such limitations upon the term of office is 
inimical to the best interests of all such institutions for the fol- 
lowing reasons: 

1. TTie public loses the services of experienced men when they 



Six-year Terms for School Boards 77 

beepiiie acquainted with the duties of the office, either by the 
fortune of state polities or local conditions. The late Hon. A. B. 
Blodgett of Syracuse, New York, said: "It has taken over one 
hundred years to bring American school boards to their present 
state of culture, and few have graduated sunvma cum laude. It 
takes at least two years to educate the average board member. ' ' 

The latest authoritative expression on this sub.ject is found in 
the Pennsylvania School Code lately adopted, which provides 
for a term of six years. In an excellent discussion of this feature 
of the code is found the expression with which we will all agree : 
"Five minutes is too long a term for an incompetent man." 

2. A short term gives opportunity for frequent disturb- 
ances in the local management. One city in this state has suf- 
fered materially in this way and in this particular city the 
charter provides that the terms of all members of the school 
board shall expire the same year. This gives an opportunity for 
a complete revolution. 

3. A short term prevents the members of the board from 
planning and carrying out a policy which sometimes requires 
several years to execute. 

4. A short term tends to inefficiency rather than efficiency on 
the part of members who are sometimes prone to leave the per- 
formance of important duties to their successors in office. 

When we turn to the experience of other States we find a three- 
year term for such officials in California, Colorado, Illinois, 
Kansas, West Virginia, Ohio, and Arkansas. The regents of the 
Ohio State University serve seven years. A determined effort 
should be made this year to put Texas in, line with progressive 
educational states. 

The State Teachers' Association and The Conference for Edu- 
cation should unite in recjuesting the next Legislature to provide 
for the permanent support of our highc^r institutions of learn- 
ing by a fixed rate of taxation. This would obviate the neces- 
sity for lobbying for appropriations and would enable the boardis 
of regents to plan for the future growth of the institutions inde- 
pendent of the fickleness of legislators. It would relieve the 
members of the boards from an unpleasant duty, for many mem- 
bers of the legislature do not realize that they should have as 
much interest in the successful management of these institutions 



78 University of Texas Bulletin 

as do the members of the boards asking for appropriations. 
They sometimes act and vote as if they thought the members of 
the board had a pecuniary or undue proprietary interest in the 
institution which they represent. The members of the Legisla- 
ture are not so well acquainted with the needs of the various 
institutions, and, so long as these institutions are dependent 
upon budget appropriations, their income will not keep pace 
with the growth and prosperity of the state. 



OUTLINES OF EOUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS UPON THE 
COUNTY INSTITUTE AND THE FURTHER DE- 
VELOPMENT OF COUNTY SUPERVISION 



R. B. Cousins, President of the West Texas Normal College, 
Canyon, Texas 

The County Institute. 

I. — Planning for its Work. 

Theses : 

1. The County Superintendent should plan the work of the 
institute. 

The institute is the county superintendent's opportunity to 
indoctrinate his teachers' in any matters that he may think 
worth while. All general effective movements looking toward 
school improvement must reach the different communities 
through the county superintendent. He must look over the- 
field and see what improvements are necessary and possible, 
and then enlist the sympathies and assistance of his teachers in 
these improvements. For instance, there may be a need of better 
houses, improved grounds, better libraries or supplies. There is 
strength in cooperation. 

2. The County Superintendent should determine what ivork 
in the nature of improving instruction in the school-room should 
be undertaken. 

He should determine whether he will cover the whole public 
school curriculum or whether he will confine his efforts to cer- 



The County Institute 79 

tain parts of the curriculum in which he has observed weak- 
nesses in his teachers, or whether he will make a certain subject 
his "leader" for a given institute. In other words, the county 
superintendent should determine what he will attempt, and why 
he v.'ill do that and not something else, and who among his 
teachers are most efficient to help in the respective departments. 

3. His plans should include a survey of the co-operative 
agencies and their purposes. 

Among these which should be considered and explained 
might be mentioned : The Hogg Movement, The Conference for 
Education in Texas, The Conference for Education in the 
South, The General Education Board, The Southern Board, 
The Country Life Commission. 

4. The value of clubs that may he correlated with the school, 
shoxdd he considered. 

What is being done and what can be done with and through 
mothers' clubs, womens' clubs, boys' clubs, girls' clubs, 
library clubs, etc. Such information rich and fresh should be 
given the teachers and plans made for organization and progress 
of such of these as circumstances in each county justify or 
demand. 

5. There is no other, piece of work of all the great work Ihi f 
county superintendent may do that requires a broader outlook 
and more intensive thinking than this one, the planning of the 
institute. 

The plan should allow liberally for the instruction which the 
superintendent may wish to give his teachers about making re- 
ports and providing for the full discussion of the details of or- 
ganization and procedure. ' Conferences, if this term be pre- 
ferred, should be held daily. 

II.— The Successful Conduct of the Work. 

Theses: ' 

1. County institutes are dull and dreaded by the teachers in 
attendance if the County Superintendent is ignorant of what 
should he done or if stupidity and ignorance characterize the 
work which is done. 

These terms are not too strong to apply to some of the work 
done in some of our institutes. If the county superintendent 
be well informed and have his heart in the work, the institute 



80 University of Texas Bulletin 

can not be a dull, dead place, but on the contrary every day is 
packed with items of vital interest. 

2. Every man or woman on the program should knoiv the 
subject in hand and know the needs of the local teachers. 

There is but one test to apply in putting people on the pro- 
gram of the institute and that is the test of preparation or 
ability to do the work desired. The county superintendent pre- 
destines his institute to dullness and to failure, partial or com- 
plete, when he allows politics, sectarianism, or geographical loca- 
tion in the county to influence the selection of his assistants. 
All these may be interesting incidents, but none nor all of them 
is a satisfactory substitute for ability to the work desired. 

.3. The whole program should he a vitalized unity, and every 
division and subdivision shoidd become a point of illumination 
while it is under consideration. 

III. The Further Development of the Office of County Su- 
perintendent. 

Theses : 

1. The office should be put on a professional basis and taken 
out of county politics. A long step would be taken in this direc- 
tion if the election could be placed inr the hands of the county 
board of education. 

2. The office in the larger counties should be ]n-ovided with 
sufficient clerical help to allow the county superintendent to 
devote his time to the professional duties of the office. 

8. The required number of scholastics should be reduced to 
two thousand in each county, thus establishing by law expert 
supervision for every county having two thousand children. 

4. Counties having fewer than the required number of chil- 
dren should be grouped into supervision districts and a pro- 
fessional school man put in charge of each district, with suffi- 
cient clerical assistance in each county to give every child in 
Texas the help that should come from the intelligent direction 
of his studies. 

5. There should be a minimum salary; but there should not 
be a maximum salary for the county superintendent. The ex- 
perience of many states has demonstrated the wisdom of this 
thesis. 



'resting Kfficieiicy of the Teacher 81 



OCITLINE OF AN ADDRESS UPON TP:STING. THE 

TEACHER'S EFFICIENCY AS A MANAGER AND 

INSTRUCTOR 



P. W. Horn, Superintendent of City Schools, Houston. 
Texas 

Many different standards are used in judgint; the teacher's 
efficiency — some false, some true. 

A few things can be judged by the "snap shot" method: that 
is, by observation on the teacher's work at a given time. More 
things, however, can be judged only by comparison of progress. 
The true measure of the teacher's efficiency can be found only 
by measuring the difference between the educational situation 
when she begins and that when she closes. 

A few things that can he observed at a single visit to the room: 

1. Phy.sical conditions in the room. Whether clean or dirty. 
light or dark, well ventilated or otherwise, etc. 

2. The degree of attention given by the class reciting. 

8. The condition o'f the class not in recitation. Are they 
at work? 

Some things that can be judged only by comparison and by 
progress made: 

1. Condition of building. Is it better or worse than that 
with which the teacher began ? To leave a good building whgre 
you found a poor one is a marked tribute to the teacher's 
efficiency. 

2. Condition of grounds. Does she leave the grounds more 
beautiful, than she found them? 

3. Condition of books of pupils. Books kept clean and in 
good repair by the pupils, speak well for the teacher. 

4. Condition of records "Will the next teacher have more 
help or less help from records than you had? 

5. Use of buildings. Does the community use the school- 
house more than it formerly did or less ? 

6. Condition and use of homes. Does the work of the school 



82 University of Texas Bulletin 

have any effect upon the homes of the district ? If so, is it for 
better or for worse? 

7. What about the general attitude of the people toward the 
school? Are they more interested than they used to be or less? 

8. What about the financial report? Do the people spend 
more money on their schools this j^ear than last ? If so, it speaks 
well for the teacher's efficiency. 

9. What about the attitude of the children toward their 
work? Are they more interested than formerly or less so? 

10. Do the pupils feel an increasing pride in their work? Do 
they take hcnest pride in showing what they have done? 

11. Do the pupils take more pains with their work? 

12. Have they made a perceptible growth in power during 
the term ? Can you tell that they can do things now that they 
could not do when you began to teach them ? 

18. Are they more interested in the right kind of things, 
both in school and out of school than they used to be ? 

14. Is the school having an increasing effect upon the indus- 
tries of the people of the community? 

To judge the efficiency of a teacher properly, all these things 
must be taken into consideration. To do so is no easy task. 

THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT AS A PROGRESSIVE LEADER OF 
PUBLIC OPINION. 

(Outline of an address delivered by P. W. Horn. July 19, 
1912, during Kural School Week at the University of Texas.) 

The county superintendent should be the chief factor in 
shaping the educational policy of a county. 

The educational policy should be based upon two things: the 
educational sentiment of the county and the material wealth of 
the county. 

The county superintendent should see to it that a good edu- 
cational policy in his county is crystallized into a good educa- 
tional program. This is a crucial point, where many good 
superintendents break down. 

The following characteristics should be observed in formulat- 
ing the educational program of the county : 

1. It should be founded upon investigation. Before you de- 



County Superintendent as Leader 83 

cide what is to be done, be sure that you know what needs to be 
done. 

2. It should go slow. Educational revolutions sometimes re- 
volve backward. Evolution is better and safer. 

3. It should deal with first things first. If all the needs can- 
not be met at one time, meet them in the order of their im- 
portance. 

4. The first step is to make sentiment. A program made out 
by one man alone is not likely to succeed. What the people 
want they are likely to get. 

5. The next step is to secure publicity. Reports, bulletins, 
daily and weekly papers, public gatherings,' etc., should all be 
used to secure publicity — not for the superintendent himself, 
but for the schools. 

6. The next step is to organize. When sentiment is made 
and publicity secured, the details must be worked out and defi- 
nite steps taken for securing the desired ends. 

7. The program should be far-sighted. The needs of to-day 
should be met first, but the needs for next year and for succeed- 
ing years should not be overlooked. 

8. The program should be continuous and connected. One 
thing should lead to another. 

9. The program should be reasonable. Nothing should be 
attempted beyond the means of the people to carry it out. 

10. To carry out any considerable educational program re- 
quires time and safe tenure of office. The second-term idea 
should not apply. The county superintendency is no more a 
political office than is the city superintendency. 



RESOLUTIONS 



At a meeting of the superintendents and teachers in attend- 
ance upon Rural School Educational Week in 1912, Superin- 
tendent W. E. Taylor, of the Gonzales City Schools, and County 
Superintendents William Eilers, of Lavaca County; Oswald 
Garrett, of Wharton County; Andrew J. Holmes, of Panola 
County, and J. J. McCook, of Denton County, were appointed 
a Committee on Resolutions. At a subsequent meeting the com- 



MAh \i 19U 



84 University of Texas Bulletin 

mittee's report was unanimously adopted. The Vast two para- 
graphs of that report read as follows : 

"We wish to express our fullest appreciation of the work of 
the Eural School Conference just closing. Its value to the state 
will be inestimable. In originating this work The University 
of Texas could not have more effectively inaugurated a labor of 
greater benefit to our state. If future conferences are planned, 
we pledge our co-operation as follows : 

"1. To aid in securing the co-operation of every friend of 
education in Texas. 

"2. That each superintendent in his coming institute pre- 
sent the work of this Kural School Conference to his teachers. 

"3. That we request the superintendents to make special ef- 
forts to put into practice the instructions emanating from this 
Conference. 

"4. We desire to express our personal appreciation to the 
officers and instructors of The University of Texas for their 
interest in the public schools and especially for the skillful or- 
ganization and direction of this Conference. In securing the 
co-operation of the Summer School Faculty, the State Depart- 
ment of Education, of President R. B. Cousins, and of Super- 
intendent O. J. Kern of Illinois, and* Mr. C. H. Lane, of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, there has been provided a con- 
ference, which for usefulness to our state, has probably not been 
excelled in the educational history of the commonwealth." 



